Freckled Promise
by Citty104
Summary: About a Weasley and a Black. Pettigrew did not escape, Sirius is free, and everything changes. It is Harry's fourth year, will the Dark Lord be back? A story about family, mystery, and fun. "Is that a promise, George Weasley?"
1. Coming Home

**Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling. Everything you recognize is created and owned by J.K. Rowling, and I do not claim any ownership. Everything you do not recognize resulted from my own imagination. The story is not purported or believed to be part of J.K. Rowling's story canon. It is written for entertainment only and I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of it. This disclaimer is effective for every Chapter of "Freckled Promise". **

**I admire J.K. Rowling and her work and am forever grateful for it.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Coming Home<p>

It all started when she was 16, well 17 almost.

She, that is Sophia Juliet Elizabeth Black, had spent all her life looking after her little brother, Dustin James Black.

Their life had been difficult in good times. From one orphanage to another foster home they had travelled the country – Australia, to be precise, for almost five years.

And now life as they knew it came to an end.

"Flight EK 934 to London is now ready for boarding. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Thank you."

"Well come on, then."

Three months ago a man had shown up on the doorstep to their latest foster family, a man who had been thrown into prison for murder almost ten years ago. And on that warm day at the beginning of autumn, under a sky that had just cleared from rain, they had reunited with their long-lost father.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to your flight attendant as we review the safety demonstration."

"Muggles are so funny."

Sophie turned her head away from the window and smiled at her brother.

She knew he was excited, but so would anyone else. Her brother had never been hard to read. The way he sat at the edge of his seat, brown eyes focused on the flight attendant in the front, and teeth biting his cheek, one could have thought he was watching a Quidditch Final. Of course, she also knew that it wasn't the admittedly good looking flight attendant that had him sit on the edge of his seat. Rather the perspective that from now on they would live with their dad and also that after this summer he would be starting school.

When their dad had last visited them, he had brought Dustin's letter from Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry with him, and from the first of September on they both would go to school there. It was a famous school, somewhere in Scotland, and it was also the former school of their parents. Dustin, as he turned eleven in ten days, would start in first year, and Sophie, who didn't bother to recall how many times she had changed schools already, in sixth.

And so the two sibling were, after almost five years, returning home to London and to their dad.

With roaring engines the plane took off.

* * *

><p>Something rustled beside her, as Dustin wrestled a cookie out of the bag in his lap.<p>

"Want one?"

She shook her head and looked out of the window. Soon the houses and trees were obscured by clouds. The broken air conditioner buzzed on over her head. With a distant gaze she wondered what life held in store for them.

It felt weird, thinking of their dad as family. He was, of course, but still. It was odd that all they wished for should just simply come true.

Another night fell over the world as she watched. Her reflection stared back at her and she combed fingers through her long brown hair. After travelling half the globe she could use a shower. Sophie supressed a sigh when her eyes focused on the world outside again. It was getting darker by the second.

All that they'd been told sounded promising, but she knew life wasn't that simple.

"You look funny."

She turned and found her brother staring at her.

"I was just thinking."

"About what?" Another cookie found its way into his mouth.

"About London and what's coming next," she said.

"Do you think people are nice in England?"

Sophie smiled. "Course they are, to you anyway."

She rumpled up his hair. Dustin was liked by anyone who got to know him. He was an open book and more than once she'd been concerned that his trusting nature would get him hurt.

"What do you think it will be like, living with dad?" he asked and she saw a quick flash of worry pass in his eyes.

"Different, I suppose."

Dustin nodded. "That's good."

Sophie leaned her head back. They were on their second plane ride to travel the world and she was tired. Not only physically, but emotionally, too. It would be nice if life was fair for once, she thought, as she closed her eyes.

"You should sleep, too, you know," was the last thing she said before falling asleep to the sound of the plane's machines, passengers talking, and the rustling of her brother's cookie bag.

* * *

><p>"Stop fidgeting," she said impatiently.<p>

"But, we're almost there!" His brown eyes were wide with excitement. "Sophie, we're almost there."

"I heard you." She chuckled with a shake of her head.

Dustin had been beyond excited since she woke up. On the little monitor over their heads they could see that they were approaching their final destination.

"What if he forgot that we're coming?" Her ten year old brother asked her.

"He only has two kids he hasn't seen in ages, so I think that's unlikely."

"What if he has a mean cat?"

"We'll get a dog."

"What if we don't like it there? What if he lives in a cave?"

"Dustin."

"What if we crash?"

She sighed. "Then, at least, I will be rid of your chatter."

He punched her shoulder and she slapped his hand.

Grinning, her brother leaned back in his seat.

For about eight seconds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as we start our descent," a woman's voice said over the speaker, and he began jumping up and down again.

Sophie smiled to herself and looked out of the window as the plane left the clouds behind and set for earth instead.

* * *

><p>"Alright, we're supposed to take the Knight Bus. Let's get out of here and find somewhere less crowded."<p>

"I don't know how you know where we're going." Dustin said, avoiding collision with a business Muggle at the last second. "I think everything looks the same."

"I don't," Sophie said, checking the signs overhead. She turned to him and grinned, "I just rely on you not noticing that we're walking in circles."

He chuckled, but sure enough fresh air hit their faces minutes later when they stepped out of the revolving entrance doors and the sun twinkled down to them. London greeted them with the nicest weather.

"Alright, this way."

His sister led them to a side street and pulled her wand out of her cardigan.

"Knight Bus," she said and directed it to the sky.

"How long do you figure we have to wait?"

Instead of answering, however, she grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him off the street, as a violet triple-decker bus appeared with a loud bang out of thin air and stopped where her brother had stood milliseconds ago.

"Bloody-!"

"No cursing."

The doors slid open and a pimpled boy with dirty-blonde hair and a blue uniform appeared.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, rescue to all stranded witches and wizards. My name is Stan Shunpike and – well, hello."

He spotted Sophie and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

Dustin rolled his eyes. Recovered from almost getting run over, he stepped forward and said, "We need to get to Terrasol Hillside 1."

"Of course you do!" Stan said. "But first may I ask your names?"

Dustin chuckled. "Well I am Dustin and that's my sister Sophie."

"Excellent."

Dustin changed a look with Sophie, who just shrugged.

"Well, Master Dustin, on you hop. My Lady."

Stan jumped out the doors and bowed. When they reached for their luggage he looked up and shook his head.

"No, no. You go on, I'll bring it in for you."

Then he bowed again and waited until they were in the bus, before fetching their belongings.

They passed the driver, an old shrunken man with magnifying glasses who could barely see over the steering wheel.

"Drop it, Stan," they heard him grumble when they sat down in worn armchairs in the middle of the bus – and sunk in a few inches.

Apart from them, there was just one man sitting in the back of the ground floor. He had a large black beard and was somewhat dwarf-like looking.

Stan had brought in their bags and asked if they wanted anything to drink, this time without bowing, but taking an imaginary hat off. They politely refused and he went to stand besides their driver Ernie in the front.

"Is it me or is he nuts?" Dustin whispered.

"Well, he certainly is different."

"If everyone here is so weird, it's going to be fun."

"Or hell."

They smirked, but only for a second and a half, because the bus started back up with a jolt.

Sophie's eyes widened as Ernie's driving skills sent their armchairs sliding and their luggage flying, and she gripped her chair so hard her knuckles turned white.

At the next turn Dustin's chair slid past hers and he sat on it, arms stretched out as if riding a surfboard, with a big grin on his face.

A look out of the window showed them that they were no longer anywhere near the airport, and that street lamps and signposts jumped out of the bus' way.

While holding onto her chair for dear life while her chair completed a ninety degrees turn, her eyes fell onto the man in the back. He hugged a wall lamp like a monkey as if it was the most natural thing to do. Sophie wondered if he was nuts or a genius for having found a safe way to travel with this death on four wheels.

Rides with the Knight Bus were two things: unpleasant and short. So it was only a couple of minutes later that they stopped, surrounded by meadows, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and Stan brought out their luggage.

Sophie stumbled out behind him slightly green, and happy to bring as much distance between her and the ride of hell. Dustin on the contrary, followed her not. He bounced with delight up to the driver Ernie and began showering him with questions.

"So why don't Muggles see you?"

Sophie watched as Ernie turned his head towards her brother. With his overly big glasses sitting on his nose, she could almost see the veins in his eyes from several feet away.

"Muggles are blind, Master Dustin," Stan answered instead. "Don' see anything, do they?"

"So if you can jump from one place to another, why do you have to drive at all? Could you not just jump everybody to where they have to go?"

"Well," Stan began, while Ernie just stared.

"Dustin, come on," Sophie called.

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Next time, then," he said shrugging his shoulders and bounced off, "bye Stan, bye Ernie." He turned to his sister and beamed. "That was awesome."

As far as she was concerned she would never ever in her whole cursed life set foot on that devilish thing again. Ever. And Dustin was just as nuts as that Stan-boy if he enjoyed that.

She shook her head at him and looked around.

"There it is," she said.

Dustin titled his head and narrowed his eyes. "Hm."

"What did you expect? A castle?"

"No. But there isn't much around here, is there?" He said unimpressed.

There wasn't, just meadows and more meadows and some trees.

"Come on, I'm sure it looks nicer up close."

They dragged their bags over the grass.

The cottage they were approaching did look better up close. It was small with rounded corners and painted ivory white. Window frames of oak held the crystal blue shimmering panes under thatch roofing, and some ivy crept up on the far side.

They were almost there when the wooden door swung open and a man appeared to greet them.

"Dad!" Dustin's bags hit the ground as the eleven year old ran to jump into his fathers arms.

Sophie levitated them with a flick of her wand. When she heard the barking laugh of her father a smile tugged on the corners of her mouth.

"Here you are. How was your journey, everything go well?" he asked Dustin, one arm around the shoulders of his son.

"Oh yeah, the Knight Bus was the coolest bit!"

When she had reached the two, her father greeted her with a smile.

"Sophie, how are you? I hope you didn't mind taking the bus. It's so good to finally have both of you here." He seemed genuinely happy to see them.

"Hi Sirius," she said. "We're glad to be here, too."

"Well, come in," he said stepping aside. "I know it's not big, I actually just had it built, but it should do."

Sophie put the bags down at the door and looked around. To the left was the living room, a beige couch and chairs sat around a small table, there was a fire place and a dining room table behind those. Large windows allowed the view down the hillside. Apparently they were in the actual middle of nowhere, but it was a quite nice-looking nowhere. Just trees that looked as old as time itself and meadows that reminded her of horse rides her mother had taken her on when she had been little. But above all, it seemed peaceful and quiet, exactly the kind of life Sophie had whished for when they had set out.

Opposite her was the open kitchen, small and white, and to her right five steps led up to a corridor, she figured lead to the bedrooms.

"It looks much bigger from the inside," Dustin observed.

"A little," Sirius said. „You must be hungry. Go take a look at your rooms while I take out the lasagne."

A white sign hung on each of the ash-wooden doors. The first two said 'bathroom' and 'Sirius'.

"Who's Harry?" Dustin whispered.

Sophie shrugged. „That's yours," she said, pointing to the door opposite to the one with the Harry-sign.

"Yep. That's my name."

He pushed down the handle and the two peaked inside. Again a large window framed the wall.

There was a bed, a closet and a desk.

"I love it," Dustin said.

Even though there wasn't much to love, she had known that he would. It was his first own room after all.

Next to Dustin's room was another bathroom, and the room next to the mysterious Harry's was Sophie's, an exact copy of her brother's room.

"Well, what do you think?" their dad asked when they returned to the main room.

They took their plates to the dining table and Dustin said, "well, it's okay, I reckon."

Sophie chuckled.

"I'm kidding," he then told his dad. "It's awesome."

"Well, I'm glad." Sirius' eyes twinkled.

Dustin, even though he had spent only a couple of days in his almost eleven years of existence with his dad, absolutely admired the man already.

Sirius had the elegance and looks of a knight of the Middle Ages. His hair was a darkish brown and fell openly to his shoulders. He was well-built and muscular and if it hadn't been for the lines that told of laughter around his eyes, he'd been quite intimidating.

"Who's Harry though?"

Sophie looked up interested, fork resting in mid-air. She'd thought about it. He couldn't be an inmate, given that her father had broken out of prison and then been cleared of all charges, since they threw him in innocent in the first place. And for he had spent the last decade there, she doubted he had a lot of homeless friends that died to move in with him and his children.

"My godson," he answered. "He'll be back from Hogwarts tomorrow night and move in with us, since we are his last living family."

"Wait, you're not talking about Harry Potter, are you?" Sophie asked.

Sirius smirked and Dustin gasped.

"No way! Not _the_ Harry Potter He's going to live with us?"

"I don't think there are two," Sophie said.

Of course they had heard about the legendary Harry Potter. Not only had Dustin's middle name been given to him in memory of Harry Potter's dad, but even at the end of the world, the tale of a toddler defeating the Dark Lord was known by all children.

"Yes, the one and only. And that way you'll also know someone before starting school. I think it'll be good."

Sophie took up eating again and was once again surprised as she took her first bite.

"This is really good."

"That's probably because I didn't make it," her father admitted. "Molly Weasley didn't want you to make a run for it until you have actually moved in, and made it for us."

"Who's she?" Dustin asked.

"Her family lives just down the hill and behind the other. Mostly that's the reason we now live in the area."

Before the thought about a possible love-interest for her father could form, he interrupted with "…and mother of seven", which kind of erased the idea from her mind.

"Seven? That's nuts."

"Dustin."

"I mean interesting," he said with a look to his sister, "tell me more."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head.

"All in due time. And you'll probably meet her before I get the chance to."

They finished super with small talk. The highlights of their first day in England stuck with their trip on the Knight Bus and setting foot in their dad's cottage, because after a two-day journey around half the globe, they fell fast asleep in their very first own rooms soon after supper, and only woke the next morning.

* * *

><p>"Morning Dad," Dustin yawned entering the kitchen. He crawled up on one of the bar stools behind the kitchen counter and tiredly blinked up to him.<p>

"Good morning, had a good sleep?"

"Oh yeah, grand." He yawned again. „Where's So?"

„Outside."

„You mean looking at trees? Or is there something out there I didn't see yesterday?"

"Looking at trees. Do you want eggs and bacon for breakfast?"

"Yeah sure, that sound's good. Do we have to go to Mrs. Weasley or can you do them?"

Sirius threw a towel at him and smirked.

While Dustin waited he picked up the Daily Prophet and skimmed over it. "You're all over the paper, dad," he said eyes widening.

"Yep. 'Mass murder innocent after all' always makes for interesting headlines."

Dustin chuckled and put the paper back. "Sophie doesn't like reading papers. She always says, _why ruin a perfectly good day with the news?_ I guess she has a point some of the time."

His father gave him a strange look, before handing him a plate with eggs and bacon and a slice of bread.

When Sophie returned from her walk around the house she found her brother laughing with his dad. It was a rare sight and her mouth curved into a smile at seeing him this relaxed.

"So since it is your birthday on the fourth, I thought we'd go get some basic school supplies that Saturday and whatever you want for your rooms. What do you think?" Sirius said.

„Where do we get all that?"

"At Diagon Alley in London. You'll like to go shopping for your birthday there, believe me."

"Alright," Dustin said.

"I'll have to get Harry at seven from King's Cross," Sirius continued. "So until then the day is ours, any wishes?"

"We could play a tournament of chess. Sophie gave me a board for my last birthday."

"Alright. But be warned, I am very good."

"Are you really?" Sophie asked and sat down in an armchair opposite the couch, while Dustin went to his room, looking for his chess board.

"Nah. I think I last played when _I_ was in Hogwarts. Sitting and thinking were never top of my favourite things to do."

He winked and she smirked, but bit back a comment.

Naturally, Sophie won their little family tournament and also the one after that. She had always been one to sit and think, even if not always by free choice. But Dustin managed to beat Sirius in their first match, as his father was somewhat in the dark about the rules of the game, so he had fun, too.

The day went by with playing games and talking. Dustin was excited to hear that he actually was going to live in a castle – because that was what their future school was, Hogwarts castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

While Sirius grabbed his jacket to collect Harry from the train, Sophie and Dustin put away their games and tidied up the house a bit.

"Harry Potter, can you believe it?"

She couldn't. Or could she? She didn't know. It was just something life would do. Sure, they moved to London and naturally, Harry Potters was going to live with them, of course! And guess what, the Dark Lord is actually the weird bloke living next door.

"I don't know," she said. "But I reckon it'll be nice to know someone before school starts."

Not that it mattered to her. But for him, it was nice.

"Yeah. You're right."

And he wandered off, chessboard in his hands, to his room.

"Harry bloody Potter," she heard him mumble.

"No cursing."

"I'll be going, then" Sirius said. "We won't be long, since we'll apparate back, but yeah. If you guys want to, you can see if you can pull some kind of dinner off what we have in the fridge. But just if you like."

"Sure, we'll do."

"Okay then, see you in a bit. Bye Dustin!" he called, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>People recognized him all around.<p>

Sirius took a look at his watch. Harry should be out any minute now. Normally he would have gone to the platform to get him, but Sirius really didn't enjoy people's stares much and so he'd written Harry to meet him at the entrance.

And sure enough, a few minutes later the messy raven hair appeared in the crowd.

"Sirius!"

It wasn't a dream after all, Harry thought to himself, as he saw his godfather standing next to the huge entrance doors of the station.

Sirius hugged him close and smiled. "Alright Harry?"

"Never been better."

Sirius chuckled. "Very good. Didn't change your mind about living with your murderer of godfather then?"

"Never," he said grinning.

"Good, let me take that. Before we go, I'd like to talk to you, but not here."

Curious, Harry followed him out the doors. Stars sprinkled the sky above them as they wandered through the parking lot, Sirius with his luggage and Harry with the owl cage in his hand. The thirteen year old could barely contain his excitement about getting rid of his horrible aunt and uncle, and go live with his godfather instead, whom he had met and grow to admire over the past year. Behind a red truck, Sirius stopped.

"Harry, before we go, there is something I haven't told you yet."

Harry put the cage down and looked at him. Because of the serious look on his godfather's face he couldn't help but hold his breath.

"First of, we don't live far away from the Weasleys, so you'll be able to see Ron the whole summer."

"That's brilliant," Harry said, breathing out and smiling brightly. Living with Sirius, spending the summer with his best friend, how could he complain?

"Well. That's one thing and not why we're hiding behind a truck."

"Okay." The nervous knot in his stomach was back.

"We won't be living alone, there are two others with us-and-they'll-be-going-to-Hogwarts-after-the-summer-too-and-they-are–my-children." Sirius said rather quickly and waited for Harry's response.

"Your- I didn't know you had children."

"Yeah, I know. And I am sorry for not telling you sooner," Sirius said, running a hand through his hair. "For the last five years they lived in Australia, since their mother died, and well, they moved back here yesterday." Sirius watched him closely. "So, what do you say?"

"Uhm, cool, I guess. How old are they?"

"Oh right, Dustin, that's my boy, he'll be eleven next weekend and Sophie is sixteen."

Harry nodded. That was unexpected news, but there wasn't really much to say until he'd met them.

"Right. So, still wanna live with your old godfather?"

"Yes," he said firmly.

Sirius smiled. "Good, grab Hedwig then and hold on tight to my arm, all right? It will feel weird the first time, but it's going to be fine. Just don't let go."

Harry did as he was told and wondered what was going to happen, until it did. He was yanked off his feet. His hand was glued to Sirius arm as they swirled through a storm of colours. Gravity tore at his every cell and he felt sick very quickly. A blink of the eye later he hit the ground hard and fell to his knees gasping for air. Hedwig shoo-hoed disgruntledly in her cage.

"You alright?" Sirius helped him up.

"What was that?"

"We side-by-side apparated. You sure you don't feel sick?"

"Uhm yeah."

Feeling better now that he had both feet on solid ground again, Harry took some calming breaths of evening air and only then began to notice their surroundings.

He recognized the area as the one around the Weasley's Burrow, but they had to be up on another hill.

"Welcome home, Harry." Sirius clapped him on the back and carried his suitcase to the front door.

_Home_, it echoed in Harry's head. He'd never had a decent home, if one didn't count the school as one, and no one except himself ever did.

Only as Sirius pushed open the door and a boy's voice reached Harry's ears, he remembered that he was going to meet Sirius' kids. The nervousness that the unpleasant trip there had wiped away, returned.

"Dustin, Sophie, please meet Harry Potter."

Harry blinked against the light and a boy came up to him.

"Hi Harry, I'm Dustin, nice to meet you."

He had light brown hair, brown eyes and he smiled.

"Hi, uhm, nice to meet you, too."

Awkwardly he stood there, looking down at him.

"That's my sister, Sophie."

And then Sirius daughter came over to him and Harry thought that Sirius' wife must have been very beautiful.

She, too, had brown hair and striking blue eyes.

"Hello Harry, nice to meet you."

She held out her hand and he shook it.

"You, too."

"We made a pan potato-mushroom something. It shouldn't be too bad," she said to Sirius.

"Alright, Harry, why don't you bring that to your room and we'll set the table."

Harry nodded, took Hedwig's cage and his suitcase and went in search for his room.

"Is that your owl?"

Apparently, he had been followed.

"Uhm, yeah."

"What's its name?"

"Her names Hedwig," Harry told Dustin.

"Hi Hedwig, nice to meet you," Dustin said, grouching down before the cage.

Hedwig hooted happily.

Harry put his suitcase by the end of his bed, clicked it open, took out his broom, and leaned it against his desk.

"Wow," Dustin jumping to his feet and eyeing Harry's broom with a look a mixture of shock and excitement. "Is that a Firebolt?"

"Yeah. It was a present from Sirius."

"Really? Do you reckon he'll give me one, too? It's my birthday next weekend."

"I don't know, maybe," Harry said. "But you won't be able to bring it to Hogwarts, first years aren't allowed to own brooms."

"Mhm." Dustin narrowed his eyes at him. "Nah, I'll ask him anyway. Maybe he doesn't know that."

Harry smiled, "yeah, maybe."

He doubted that Dustin would be successful but if someone didn't take rules too serious, it was the man calling them to dinner.

Harry and Dustin joined the other two at the table.

"Hey Dad. You said we'll go shopping at my birthday, right?"

"Yes, unless you don't want to."

"No, no it's fine, listen, what would you think if I told you the perfect birthday present for me?"

Sophie shook her head smiling.

"And that would be?"

""Well, I just had a chat with Harry and, you know, he told me that you gave him his broom, so…"

Sirius laughed.

"So you thought… well, unfortunately brooms are not allowed in Hogwarts for first years."

"And that's for sure?"

"Afraid so."

"Ah shame."

Dustin began attacking his plate while the three others hid their smirk.

"Harry, you can go to the Burrow whenever you like," Sirius started, "you can take your broom, too, since there're no Muggles in the area. Also, next Sunday I thought we'd all go visit, Molly invited us to dinner."

"The Burrow?" Dustin asked.

"The Weasley's house."

"Sure, thanks," Harry said.

"Are we going to meet all their seven children?" Dustin asked.

"No, you won't," Sirius said. "Bill and Charlie, the two oldest, don't live with them anymore. What was it, Bill is in Egypt and Charlie was…"

"Romania," Harry said. "Training Dragons."

"Training Dragons?" Dustin said, wide-eyed. "Are you serious?"

"You hand me an excellent graduation report and you can go train dragons, too," Sirius said.

"That's still nine years away," Dustin said.

"Yep."

Sophie smiled to Harry and he smiled back. He could hear Ron's voice in his ear, '_dude, she's really hot_!' and quickly looked back at his plate as not to blush.

"So Harry, how is it in Hogwarts? Is it really a castle? Are there dragons, too? Do you have to learn a lot?"

"Uhm, well yeah, it is a castle. No dragons, except when Hagrid raises one illegally and yeah, sometimes you have to study a lot, especially before finals."

"Who's Hagrid?"

Sirius had to intervene in Dustin's interrogation of Harry when the food on their plates threatened to become cold. He send Dustin to do the washing up and it grew quiet at the table.

"If you two like, you can check out the area tomorrow on your brooms. Harry plays for the house Quidditch team at Hogwarts."

"Do you? What position?" She asked him.

Only then he noticed that she hadn't said a word since greeting him.

"Seeker," he said. "Do you play?"

"I have at one school or another, but when I did I played Chaser. You must be really good when you play for your school team."

"He has a Firebolt!" Dustin called from the kitchen. "You have to see it, it really looks awesome!"

She smiled. "A Firebolt, not everyone's able to handle their speed and steering."

"He had a Nimbus 2000 before, so he's only used to high-quality brooms," Sirius said.

"I've been lucky," Harry said.

He didn't want her to think he was like Malfoy, always needing the best of the best. His broom really was the only thing of high quality he possessed. Everything else he'd ever owned were hand-downs from his cousin. His aunt and uncle, with whom he had lived before this summer, had never spent much of their money on him.

"You are quite young, too, aren't you? To play, I mean. How long have you been on the team?"

"Uhm."

Sirius laughed. "Well, tell her Harry."

"I actually got on my first year at Hogwarts."

Sophie looked confused. "I though first years weren't even allowed to own brooms, how come you're allowed to play Quidditch then?"

"They made an exception."

"You really must be good."

She smiled at him and Harry felt his cheeks burn. He had never been good with compliments.

"I'm okay…," he mumbled.

Sirius patted him on the back and stood.

"You'll see how okay he is tomorrow," he said to Sophie.

They stood to and took their plates to the kitchen.

"I'm looking forward to it."

When Harry entered his room later that evening he couldn't believe his luck. Never had he to go back to the horrible Dursleys, he lived with Sirius now, right were Ron lived, and had met two people who could one day be something like a sister and brother to him.

With an enormous smile he fell onto his bed. He considered writing to Ron and Hermione for a moment, but then thought about Ron's face when he just turned up at his doorstep. Grinning, he turned to his side and closed his eyes. Life was good.

* * *

><p>"Thanks," she said when Harry handed her his broom.<p>

The ebony wood of his Firebolt was smooth, the birch twigs elegantly formed.

"It feels great," she said while running her fingers over it. "Okay, let's try it out."

Harry and Dustin stepped aside, the latter holding her own broom, a Shuffle.

Sophie mounted the broom and kicked off. Wind whipped at her hair and she felt a smile spread across her face. The speed was incredible.

She flew a few screw turns and then directed it up to the sky, speeding to the clouds.

She closed her eyes.

'_It feels like escaping everything'? Too bad, Sophia, you will never fly again. Not this year, not the next, not ever. There is no escape. No escape for you ever again._

_Where are we going?_

_Away from here. Grab your bag, we're going._

_But how? _

_We'll fly._

The broom reacted to the slightest movement; she pointed it down again and raced towards the ground. She could see Harry and Dustin watching her and Sirius was there, too, standing in the doorway of the cottage.

Their eyes grew wide when she wouldn't turn the broom back up, but instead kept speeding down. In the last seconds before hitting the ground and breaking every bone in her body she pulled up.

A round later she landed beside them again.

"Wow, Harry. That broom is incredible."

"Thanks but – you didn't tell my how good a flyer you are!"

"She's insane," Dustin said, "and that dive almost gave us a heart attack."

"Sorry," she said grinning. "Shall we go check out the area now?"

Harry took his broom back and Dustin climbed up behind his sister, then they took off.

They saw the Burrow and only a few other wizard houses. Afraid they would go too far and catch the attention of Muggles they circled the area twice. It was a rolling landscape with mostly more of what they had already seen, woods and fields and the occasional pond. They were out until noon and then they returned to their home hungrily.

"Had a good trip?"

"Oh yeah. Dad, you couldn't have picked a better place," Dustin said.

"That's true," Harry said nodding.

"Thanks," Sirius smiled. "I made sandwiches."

Instead of eating at the table as they had done for dinner the evening before, they took their plates outside and sat in front of the large living room windows, backs leaned against the house and enjoyed the view down into the valley.

"Dad, look, there are deer!"

Dustin's sandwich soon lay forgotten beside him, while the boy observed the wildlife. In the short while they sat outside, more deer showed up, some rabbits, and even a fox.

"This is so cool."

"Didn't you have more wildlife than that in Australia?" Harry asked her.

"I suppose we just lived in all the wrong places," Sophie told him.

She didn't like talking about Australia. Not in a moment when they were enjoying the peaceful quiet anyway.

Harry didn't ask any more questions and she was glad. Somehow he seemed to understand them. She didn't know a lot about him, except from what everybody knew. That he was the boy who survived the unsurvivable curse of the Dark Lord. That the dark wizard vanished the night he tried to kill Harry. That Harry's parents had died and he was sent to live with the Muggle sister of his mother.

And somehow that was how he looked, too. He was rather skinny and had pale skin, big round glasses on his nose and messy black hair that hid the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

He didn't look like a thirteen year old with the best racing broom in the world, he looked like a thirteen year old with a story.

And so they weren't that different at all.

* * *

><p>The next day after supper Harry said goodbye to them and took his broom. He was excited to see Ron's face when he turned up unexpectedly on his doorstep only three days after holidays started.<p>

The flight to the Burrow only took a few minutes and he smiled as the crooked roof came into view. The Burrow always looked as if the next blow of wind would make it crumble. He landed next to the door and shooed some chickens out of his way, leaned his Firebolt against the wall, and knocked on the door.

"Harry!" Ginny looked at him wide-eyed. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"I know," Harry said grinning. "I hope it's okay."

"Of course. Come in."

Ginny, Ron's younger sister, lead the way, her long red hair swinging with every step. The first room they crossed was the kitchen.

"Hey Mum, look who I found on the doorstep."

"Harry, my dear! Ron didn't say you were coming, it's so good to see you," Mrs. Weasley hugged him.

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley. Ron didn't know that I was coming. I thought I'd surprise him, since we only live over the hill now."

"You live here?" Ginny asked.

"Yep, just a little east."

"How is it living with Sirius, then?" Mrs. Weasley asked him.

"Oh it's fantastic. Thanks for the lasagne, by the way."

"Oh don't mention it. And the other two, do you get a long well?"

"Yeah, they're great."

Ginny looked from one to the other.

"What other two?"

"Why don't you go get Ron, Ginny, and then Harry can tell you."

She hesitated a moment, but then she turned and they heard her run up the steps. A few seconds later she came back, three boys following her.

"Harry! I thought Ginny was joking, what are you doing here mate?"

Ron, tall, red-haired and freckled, looked at him in surprise.

"Well, I thought I'd come by and visit my neighbours."

"Neighbours?" Fred asked.

"What do you mean, neighbours?" George said, Fred's identical twin.

"Harry lives over the hill in the east," Ginny said.

"You do? Brilliant!" Ron gave him a clap on the back.

"So how is it living with the murderous Sirius, Harry?" Fred asked and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Pretty good," Harry said grinning.

"Wait. Now that Ron's here - what did Mum mean when she said, the other two? Who else lives there?"

Six pairs of eyes watched him closely.

"Well, there's him, and me and … his two children."

The reaction was just how Harry had imagined it. The twin's jaws dropped, Ron said "You're kidding", and Ginny just looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"He has children? Since when?" said George.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Fred asked their mother.

"How old are they?" Ginny asked.

"They're eleven and sixteen. Well, Dustin will be eleven next weekend and Sophie is sixteen."

"Sixteen?"

Fred and George looked at each other.

"So, she'll go to sixth grade like us?" Fred said.

"Is she cool?" George asked.

"She's nice, yeah, definitely."

"And nice being the synonym for freaking hot?"

Ginny and Ron grinned at Fred's comment, while Harry tried not to blush when he said, "she's, well, _very _nice."

"Oh Harry." George wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh shush, you two," Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry and Ron grinned at each other.

"Ron, didn't you want to tell Harry the news."

"Oh right! Harry, do you know what this year is?"

"Uhm?"

"The Quidditch World Cup Final is in England, Ireland vs. Bulgaria, and Dad has scored tickets through his work at the ministry. Harry- you and me, well, and the rest of my family – we're going to see a World Cup final!"

"And Sirius and his children," said Mrs. Weasley. "It was pointless to tell you before you knew he had children."

While Ron told Harry everything he needed to know about the Cup, the teams and the results, Fred and George snuck back upstairs.

"Well," Fred said.

"Well," George said.

"That's news."

"Who would have thought?"

"Good ol' Sirius-"

"-has children-"

"-and a very hot daughter."

The twins looked at each other.

"But I suppose we shouldn't take Harry's word for it."

"He is only thirteen after all."

"What do you think about a quick trip somewhere east?"

"Funny, I was just about to suggest the same."

A few minutes later they landed behind a group of trees and peeked through branches to the cottage a few feet away.

"Mh. Shame that they're inside."

Fred fished a fuzzy little black ball out of his pocket and threw it as far as he could down the hill.

The twins put their fingers in their ears as an echoing crash sounded over the grounds, as if there had been an explosion some distance away. The door flew open and they spotted Sirius, wand ready, looking around.

Fred snickered.

"Shh," George said and they watched as Sirius checked the surroundings and then went back in, shrugging his shoulders.

A boy appeared in the doorway.

"What was it?"

George fetched an Extenable Ear out of his pocket, an item invented by the twins to pry on conversations, and the ear crouched over the grass nearer to the entrance. Now they could hear everything almost as if they were standing next to them.

"I don't know. Probably the Weasley pranksters trying to blow up the Burrow, or your sisters wanted to distract from the game."

"I did not." They heard a girl's voice. "And didn't need to either, I just checkmated you."

"Maybe it was Harry?"

"What, you think he exploded?" The girl said.

"Sophie."

"He said Harry exploded."

"I didn't."

"Anyway, it's your turn."

"I'm going to knock your queen of the board," the boy said to Sirius.

"You can try."

Sirius and Dustin vanished from the door. Before it fell shut, the heard the boy speak up again.

"Can't you go check if it was Harry?"

"Fine, I'll bring back his limbs if he did explode."

Then the door swung open again and for the first time Fred and George laid eyes on their future classmate.

"Harry wasn't joking," Fred murmured.

George nodded.

They watched her stroll over the grass with her hands in the pockets of her jeans. She wore a black, short-sleeved blouse.

"Mh," she said and leaned down to pick up the smoking remnants of their noise-bomb.

Her hair was chestnut brown and shining under the sun of late June and when she looked around George noticed her eyes. They knocked the breath right out of him.

"We should go, as soon as she shows that to Sirius he'll guess it was us," Fred mumbled.

George nodded reluctantly and they silently made their way back through the trees until it was safe to mount their brooms.

Back at the Burrow, Harry and Ron still sat in the kitchen.

"So Harry," Fred said as they entered the kitchen. "What else can you tell us about the two new Blacks?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, oh wait – she's a really good flyer. I don't know in which house she'll end up but I'm pretty sure she'll make the house team in any."

"Really?" George said. "Mh. What else? Do you know something about their mother?"

"Just that she's dead, not more."

"Where did they live then?" Ron asked.

"In Australia. But again, I don't know more about that either. I just met them myself."

"Australia. That explains at least why they weren't in Hogwarts."

Harry left before dinner, just as Mr. Weasley returned home from the ministry.

"He looks good," he commented upon entering the kitchen.

"I think having a home and a place in the wizarding world does him good," Mrs. Weasley agreed.

"Dad, do you know any more about Sirius' kids?" Ginny asked him.

"Not much, but you can ask them all your questions yourself when you meet them."

"And when is that?" Fred asked.

"We invited them over for dinner next Sunday," Mrs. Weasley said. "Go get Percy, will you, he's been in his room all afternoon, dinner is almost ready."

George followed his brother up the stairs.

Fred banged his fist against Percy's door. "Dinner!" Then, without waiting for answer, he went inside.

"Hey! Are you never going to learn what a closed door means?"

Annoyed, their brother adjusted his glasses and glared at them from his desk.

"No," Fred said. "Whatcha doing? Writing to Penny?"

"Uh, Penny," George mocked and made kissing noises.

"Get out," Percy said blushing.

"When you've showed me what you have there," Fred said and tried to get a look at the parchment on his brother's desk.

Percy tried to shove him away but George snatched the letter from the other side.

"Dear Penny," he read. "I hope you enjoy your holidays. I am a moron and a nerd and I can't believe you're going out with me", he added. George dropped the letter back on the desk. "That's so cute, Perc."

Percy's neck was as red as his hair. "Get out," he said again. "You're just jealous."

Fred and George roared with laughter.

"Jealous," Fred said wiping a tear from his eye. "Of what? That you finally, after eighteen years of sorry existence, got a girl to snog you? Yeah, that's an accomplishment."

"Boys! Dinner!"

Fred and George left, followed by Percy, who smacked them both over the head as they went. Fred turned to kick him, which lead to more shoving on the stairs.

"Seriously, how old are you?"

"Sorry Mum," the three mumbled in unison and descended the last steps with hung heads. Fred and George smirked at each other when she looked away.

The dining table in the Burrow's crooked kitchen was wrapped in a flower-sprinkled tablecloth. Like everything in the Burrow, the furniture didn't match the rest of the room and everything bore signs of use.

George fiddled with a hole in the cloth as he stabbed the roast with his fork, absently listening to the conversations around him.

He wondered what she was eating right now. Probably something really fancy. On the other hand, he wasn't sure Sirius knew how to cook anything other than rats, off which he had lived when George hat first met him, so… But anyhow, she probably looked stunning whatever she ate.

"Well, I really can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that you will never again have a year quite like this in Hogwarts."

"I rather wish I was back at Hogwarts to see this," Mrs. Weasley added to her husband's words.

"Dad, come on, what is it?" Ron asked.

"Sorry, it's a ministry secret-"

That got Georges attention and he looked up.

"- but you'll know as soon as the term starts. I believe they will tell you at the welcoming feast. It's big." Their dad's eyes twinkled.

"Come on, just tell us a little bit," Ginny said.

"He just said he cannot," Percy said. "If it's a ministry secret, Dad shouldn't tell. You don't want him to loose his job, do you?"

"Bugger off, Perc," Fred said. "Come on, Dad. We won't tell anyone."

"Ah, I should never have said anything," Mr. Weasley said smiling. "You just have to wait and see."

"But-"

"No more of this, Ronald," Mrs. Weasley said. "Now, another round of dumplings, who wants some?"

"What do you think it is, Dad won't tell us?" Fred asked when they got ready for bed a few hours later.

"I dunno. Looks like we'll have to wait to find out."

George pulled his jumper over his head and threw it to the pile of clothes on their desk.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, maybe we'll convince him." Fred threw himself on his mattress and his bed squeaked. "Good night then."

"Night." The lights went out and it was dark in their room.

George sat on the edge of his bed, not feeling tired the slightest.

The moon shone through their window. He wondered if she was still awake. He scooted back on his back and leaned his head against the wall.

It was weird, really. He never thought about girls that much, but since he'd seen her this afternoon, she hadn't left his mind. Her shimmering chestnut hair and those striking eyes.

He closed his eyes, but the more he tried to focus on her face, the more it blurred in front of him. Damn it. Had she really been as beautiful as he recalled, or had it been a trick of the light? Fred didn't seem too bothered, which was weird. Their minds always worked alike.

But he'd rather solve the mystery of their dad's weird hints.

Well, maybe there wasn't something wrong with Fred but with him. Usually that would be what would bother him, too. He'd lie awake and wonder how to get their dad to tell them.

His eyes flew open. Something was definitely wrong with him and he would not call himself a mischief-maker if he didn't figure out what.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the first part of the <strong>_**Freckled Promise**_** journey!**

**I split the first chapter into two – the second bit will pick up right where the first ended and include the Sunday dinner at the Burrow.**

**Enjoy the day,**

**Citty**


	2. Coming Home II

_His eyes flew open. Something was definitely wrong with him and he would not call himself a mischief-maker if he didn't figure out what._

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Coming Home II<p>

His bed squeaked as he got up and tip toed to their desk in the middle of their room. He felt for trousers and a jumper, not caring if it was Fred's or his, since they shared the same clothes anyway, and silently pushed down the door handle as he got out.

The Burrow was quiet; apparently everyone else had gone to bed.

The night's air was warm. He fetched his broom from the shed in the garden and kicked off.

_Dumbass, she won't be awake. What are you going to do, stare at the front door?_ a voice in his head said.

_Shut it_, another voice said. _I just want to get some air and if it happens to take me to Sirius' and if she happens to be there, that's coincidence._

He took the same route as a few hours before, straight east and then up the hill. There was light behind the windows and his heart jumped.

George landed behind the trees. Slowly he went around them and stepped closer. He was pretty sure they couldn't see him, but for him the insides of the house were clearly illuminated.

And his eyes found her. She sat on the couch in the living room, reading. He inched a little closer and tried to make out if Sirius or her brother were still awake, too.

His heartbeat stopped a second when suddenly Sirius' head appeared in the window. George stumbled a few steps back and held his breath. Sirius went over to her, gave her shoulder a squeeze and then moved away. Lights went on in his room, and then out again.

George stood rooted to the spot and his heartbeat slowed again. He watched her eyes dart over the pages, her foot moved to an inaudible rhythm. Sometimes the smallest of smiles would play around her lips and her eyes would stop for a moment and then she'd re-read a passage again.

"And that isn't at all creepy."

George jumped and turned.

Fred stood behind him, broom in one hand, the other tucked in the pockets of his pyjama pants.

"Merlin, you nearly gave me a heart attack." George stepped back and pulled him with him away from the cottage. "How did you know I was here?"

Fred shrugged. "You were off all evening. It was a lucky guess."

"I thought you were asleep."

"Obviously I wasn't. So, you wanna tell me why you were staring at Sirius daughter like a psycho?"

George shook his head, "I don't know. I just wanted to check something."

"And what was that?"

"If she really… well, if she was really as, uhm, nice as I remembered."

Fred rolled his eyes.

"What? I don't know why I'm here. I just flew here and then I stood there and then you showed up."

"And what if I hadn't?"

George shrugged his shoulders.

"George, are you smitten?"

"What? No!"

"Dude, you got out in the middle of the night to stare at her through the window."

"Yeah. Don't tell her that."

Fred chuckled. "Wow, she really got to you."

"But how could she? We never even talked. I mean, I just looked and…"

"Well, she's not bad looking. I understand how you'd be attracted to her."

"And you aren't?"

"Well, clearly I wasn't the one she caused a sleepless night."

George bit his cheek and Fred sighed.

"Come on, we should get back."

His twin looked back at the house behind them.

"I don't think it would be a good idea," Fred said before George voiced his thoughts. "We'll meet her in a week, then you can stare all you want."

He was right, of course. And a part of him was even scared of himself, he was used to reacting in the heat of the moment when he and Fred pulled pranks, but this was odd, even for him.

Shaking his head he mounted his broom and sped after Fred back to the Burrow. One thing was clear, she was as pretty as he'd thought. But apart from that he now had a hundred more questions.

* * *

><p>Sophie had no idea what had gone on before the window. She read the last words on her page, closed the collected works of Shakespeare with a yawn, and went to bed herself.<p>

* * *

><p>"Happy Birthday!"<p>

Dustin beamed as Harry, Sophie, and his dad congratulated him with a huge birthday cake between them.

Sophie went around the counter and hugged him close.

"This is a special birthday," she whispered in his ear.

She watched Sirius and Harry get their hugs in and then Dustin jumped to sit on one of the bar stools and rubbed his hands together.

"Cake for breakfast," he grinned.

After they all had eaten their share, they got ready to floo to Diagon Alley.

A wizard of the ministry had come by the last week and set up the floo-network for their chimney, so Harry stepped in their fire place first, with a hand of poisonous green powder.

"Diagon Alley!" He said and threw the powder down to his feet. With a "Whoosh" he was gone.

"Sophie."

She stepped in, took a hand of powder, repeated after Harry and she, too, vanished in green flames. It felt like standing under a shower of rice.

When she opened her eyes, she stepped out to a crowded street of busy witches and wizards hurrying past, children chattering, and owls hooting.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" Harry said.

She moved to stand beside him, taking in their surroundings. Diagon Alley was a sight that took some getting used to. The display windows were loaded with brilliant and multi-coloured items, and never had she seen so many witches and wizards bustling along – in their robes no less, as if they needn't be afraid Muggles would notice them. It was loud, colourful and brilliant.

"Wow!" Dustin and Sirius stepped out beside them.

"Come on, school uniforms are first on our list."

Sirius led them down the alley and Harry enjoyed watching the two young Blacks who didn't know where to look first.

Dustin was obviously beyond excited and practically bounced alongside them, Sophie was a bit harder to read. Her dark blue eyes took in the scenes around them and her lips curved into a smile.

'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' was a shop at the north side of the alley. The store bell rang when they entered and Madam Malkin's, a witch with curly blond hair, hurried to greet them.

"Oh, good morning," she said. Then she stopped and stared at the lot for a moment, or rather at two of them, the famous Harry Potter and the momentarily equally famous Sirius Black. But a smile quickly covered up her surprise and she asked how she could help them.

"Three packs of new school robes for Hogwarts and a dress robe each," Sirius said.

"Marvellous," Madam Malkin's said. "Well, Mr. Potter, why don't we start with you, you are already familiar with the process."

Harry stepped up on a round podium and a measuring tape buzzed around him, while a quill took down the results on a flying notepad beside him.

Then Mrs. Malkin's went to the back of the shop and brought out robes for him to try on.

The Hogwarts uniforms were found quickly, for summer and winter, and additional jumpers in the colours of Gryffindor house, red and gold.

The dress robes took him a little bit longer.

"Why do I need dress robes?" He asked Sirius, looking himself up and down in the mirror. The robe was dark green, to match his eyes as Madam Malkin's had said, underneath he wore a formal waistcoat and bow tie.

"Because there's an occasion where dress robes are required this year at Hogwarts, but I'm not telling you more." His eyes twinkled.

"Now the boy. Your name my dear?" Madam Malkin's asked, when Harry went to change again.

"Dustin, Dustin Black."

"Alright Mr. Black, up you go."

With Dustin it was the same procedure as with Harry, only he didn't get red and gold jumpers. First years didn't know which house they'd be sorted into at Hogwarts, so their jumpers were just grey.

He almost didn't want to change out of his dress robes, though, and humoured everyone present when Sirius had to shove him behind the changing curtain, while the eleven year old tried to get one last look at himself in the mirror.

And it was Sophie's turn.

"We won't get your jumpers. We'll leave your measures here and I'll send them to you, when we know your house," Sirius told her.

"Well, you've got you school robes, only your dress remains," Madam Malkin's said.

"Dress? No dress robes?"

"Oh no my dear. Come with me, we'll take a look at some, you'll tell me your preferences, and then we will give those gentlemen something to look at."

Sophie gave them an unenthused look.

"I prefer trousers," she mumbled, but Sirius sent her after Madam Malkin's.

"Where do we go next?" Dustin asked, sitting on a bench next to Harry behind the shop windows.

"Olivanders, to get your wand," Sirius said.

"My wand? Awesome!"

Harry chuckled.

"I cannot wait till school starts."

Sirius watched him and then looked away. As far as he was concerned, he could wait forever.

"Where did you leave Madam Malkin's?" he asked when Sophie returned alone.

"I told her my _preferences,_" she said, "and now she's hexing something together. Do we really need dress gowns?"

"Yes," was his simple reply.

"Here you go dear, oh don't look at me like that, you'll love it once you've tried it on." Madam Malkin's handed her a clothes bag and Sophie went behind the curtain to change. Dresses were not clothing she liked. They were unpractical and, well, _dresses_.

"All ready dear? Then let me see."

The dress maker joined her and the boys waited anxiously to get a peak.

"Well now, if that isn't absolutely lovely? Come on, time to get compliments."

She thrust aside the curtain and Sophie appeared in a darkish ocean blue dress. It was strapless and fell over her knees, with a low cut back.

"Wow," Dustin said gaping at his sister.

"What do you say, daddy?" Madam Malkin's said.

"You look very beautiful," Sirius said and Sophie smiled.

Madam Malkin's nudged her side.

"Yeah, alright, it's nice," Sophie admitted.

It was, too. It wasn't black, for one, so it had that going for it. And she couldn't deny it kind of made her eyes shine.

The boys laughed and Madam Malkins' eyes twinkled.

A few minutes later they hit the street again. Olivanders' wand-shop was next on their list and Sophie and Harry decided to wait outside.

"So you never needed dress robes before?"

Harry shook his head. "Maybe Hogwarts celebrates some kind of anniversary this year."

The were sitting side by side on a bench outside Olivanders and watched the people go by.

"I suppose it'll be quieter now that you don't have to fear to be murdered by Sirius in your sleep, huh?"

"Yeah," he said with a laugh, "it wasn't fun not knowing that he wasn't after me, when everybody thought he was. But really, I have never had a quiet year in Hogwarts, so I wouldn't bet on it."

"Oi! Watch it!" a witch called and caught their attention.

A man with his hood pulled down far into his face made his way roughly through the crowd. They could just make out his dark eyes in the shadow of his face and they landed on them. He looked from Harry to Sophie and back.

A shiver ran down her arms.

Then the man wrapped his robe tighter around him; a golden ring on his right ring finger reflected the light. He looked over his shoulder, to them, and then vanished in a side street.

"Knockturn Alley," Harry said. "It's where all the weird folks go, Dark Magic lovers and such."

"That bloke definitely looked weird."

"Look!" Dustin appeared, pointing his wand at them.

With a finger, Sophie directed it out of their faces to the floor.

"Cool, but do us a favour and don't blow us up, kay?"

He stuck out his tongue.

"Well, Harry, what is the coolest place here?" Sirius asked.

"Uhm, Gringotts?"

That was the enormous wizarding bank at the end of the alley, elegant and run by goblins.

"Think smaller."

"A shop? The Quidditch shop."

Sirius grinned and nodded. "To your feet!"

'Quality Quidditch' was crowded with people. Sirius made his way to the front and fetched a young shop assistant, whom he gave quite a scare, being who he was.

"Don't worry," Sirius said as he dragged him over to the corner where Sophie, Harry and Dustin stood. "You can earn yourself a nice tip."

He let go off his robes. "Alright, we need a new pair of Quidditch robes for those two, Seeker and Chaser, what do you have?"

"How expensive?" The assistant asked.

"Show me your most expensive first, then we'll go from there."

"Sirius-," Harry and Sophie began to intervene simultaneously.

"None of this," he interrupted them. "It for both your birthdays."

Harry and Sophie marvelled at their new uniforms not long after. Neither had ever flown in such expensive and fitting gown.

"Alright, now go crazy and get everything you want for your rooms. Posters, books, games, whatever."

When they left the shop each loaded with several bags, it was time for lunch and they went to 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour'.

"Best birthday in history," Dustin said, plunging his spoon in his ice cream bowl so huge, he could barely look over it.

"The cauldron shop, 'Scribbulus Writing Instruments' and 'Slug & Jiggers Apothecary' we'll save for when we have your lists of school supplies for next year, we can go to 'Flourish and Blotts' if you want to start your own home library, if not – and we'll got there, too, when we have your lists - I only have two more stops planned."

"I told you, you'll get your broom for your twelfth birthday," Sirius told Dustin when they stood in front of their second last stop, "but we have one more in our group in need for one."

Sophie looked at him but he ignored her.

"A Firebolt for the Lady," he told the salesman and everyone in 'Broomstix' turned to see who had the money to buy the world's best broom.

"Sirius," Sophie started.

"No complaints, please."

"We got it with birch or hazel twigs, from the looks I'd say hazel works better with you, love." The salesman opened a long parcel and took out a brand new Firebolt.

"Bloody-"

"No cursing," Sophie said automatically but her head felt very light as she took the broom from the man.

Sirius went to deal with the pay and the three students just stood and admired the broom in Sophie's hand.

"You're a lucky girl," a woman said.

"I wish I had the money," a man said.

"You really needn't have done that," Sophie said when they left the shop, and she was kind of glad to escape the starring.

Put a man whose picture had been all over the papers the last months, Harry Potter and a brand new Firebolt in a room and you can be sure to be gawked at.

"It's for all your past birthdays I didn't give you anything."

"Still."

"A thank you will do," Sirius said smiling.

"Thank you."

Their last stop was the 'Eeylops Owl Emporium'.

"That is no owl," Sophie said when they left the shop at noon with Dustin holding a cage with his new pet up before his eyes. "It sounds like a songbird."

"Don't listen to her, Flecks, she's just jealous."

"Ron's owl sounded just like that when he got it last year," Harry said. "It gets better as they get older."

The Scops Owl chirped excitedly. It was brown with one black spot on his head.

"He sleeps in your room, just to make that very clear from the beginning."

Harry and Sophie smirked at each other.

"Are you sure you don't want a pet?" Sirius asked her.

"Nah, maybe next year. I have enough responsibility watching over that one," and she tapped Dustin's head affectionately.

As they made their way back to the fire places to floo home, Harry nudged her side and pointed to the man vanishing before them. It was the hooded figure that had vanished into the dark alley before. They exchanged a look and Sophie wanted to ask Sirius about Knockturn Alley but then she saw that his gaze was fixed upon the very spot, where the dubious man had vanished.

"Off you go," he then said with a smile and waited for them to step into the fireplaces. With a last look, Harry and Sophie journeyed home.

* * *

><p>Sunday they spent outside, Harry and Sophie racing with their Firebolts and Sirius teaching Dustin the first grips with Sophie's old Shuffle. At noon they went to get ready for dinner at the Burrow.<p>

Harry had told her about the family. Ron was his best friend, thirteen, too, and Ginny was his one-year younger sister. Then there were Fred and George, sixteen like her, and wholehearted trouble makers, and Percy, two years older than the twins and a straight "A" student who took school very, very seriously. And of course, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the former was fascinated by every thing Muggle-ish, the latter raised seven children, enough said.

She looked forward to meeting them, apparently Harry and Sirius were both very fond of the Weasleys. Especially the twins had aroused her interest and she wondered what they'd be like.

It was never wrong to have some allies at school; she usually had never stayed long enough to make friends.

So Sophie straightened out her hair and let it fall flat on her shoulders, applied a bit of make up to her eye lashes but that was it. They were going over in Muggle attire so she chose a pair of black trousers and an aqua blue blouse. The only jewellery she wore was her slender silver watch on her left wrist and since she only owned one pair of shoes, darkish grey sneakers, they went on her feet.

"Kids, are you ready?"

"Did he just call us kids?" Harry had appeared at her door and grinned.

"Maybe we shouldn't answer just to prove a point," she joked.

"Dad, I can't find my socks!"

"On the kitchen counter."

"On second thought…," she said.

They went to join the two others in the kitchen.

"Since when are you messy?" Sophie asked her brother.

"Since I'm allowed to."

Sophie gave Sirius a pointed look.

"We'll talk about that when we get back," he said. "You two can go ahead."

Because Sirius would apparate with Dustin, Sophie and Harry made use of their head start and mounted their brooms. They raced each other to the Burrow and it so happened that they arrived just when Sirius and Dustin materialised in the Weasley's back yard.

"I will not ask why your brother is not feeling sick after apparating," Sirius said and knocked.

Harry and Sophie went to put their brooms against the shed and Harry asked in a whisper, "what did he mean by that?"

"Well, he knows or guesses that I've been apparating with Dustin, though it's not allowed till you're seventeen and got a Ministry license for it."

"Oh hello!" Mrs. Weasley said. "Sirius, how good to see you, and you must be Dustin, well, come in, come in."

Harry and Sophie followed through the open door and she was surrounded by red haired people at once.

"… are Dustin and Sophie," Sirius was saying.

"Percy Weasley," a boy with short red hair that curled in its ends introduced himself.

"I'm Fred," said one of the identical twins. Their hair fell into their eyes and they both smiled, "and I'm George," said the other, sounding a bit croaky.

"I'm Ron, Harry's mate." Ron was tall, with a mop of red hair like the twins.

"And I'm Ginny," said the only girl.

"Nice to meet you all," Sophie and Dustin said.

"Well, sit down all."

Mrs. Weasley was obviously some kind of super-mom. Not only were her children overly likable but her dinner was to die for. And Sophie thought all that before she had pie. Yeah, the Weasley's definitely were – in her brother's words- bloody brilliant.

"You know Sirius is a bit of our hero," Fred said.

He was sitting next to Sophie.

"His doings as a Marauder back in the day are legendary," George said.

"A what?" Dustin asked.

"Marauder, that's what they called themselves, Sirius, Harry's dad and their two friends," Fred explained.

"All our time in Hogwarts is spent to someday have a longer record than theirs," George said.

"What a noble goal," Mrs. Weasley said and got Sophie smirking.

"Bet you two are a bit of trouble makers yourself, ey? With his blood running through your veins…"

"Fred, no more of this nonsense," his mother said upon seeing the spark in Dustin's eyes. "Sirius would sure not be happy with you two if you got his kids expelled."

"Indeed, I would not."

"Sorry," Fred said, but grinned when Sirius winked at him.

"Alright, I believe it's your turn to do the washing up," she pointed to Ginny and Ron, who groaned.

"I'll help," Harry said.

"Us, too," Sophie said but Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"We don't make our guests work."

"Harry's family, he can help, can't he?"

His mother gave her son a pointed look but Ron just shrugged his shoulders.

"Gladly," Harry said.

"Well, we have some things to discuss with Sirius, you go take our guests to the living room, and Percy will surely tell you all about Hogwarts there is to know," she told Dustin, "he's a prefect."

"What's a prefect?" Dustin asked the oldest Weasley son with curly hair and Percy smiled.

"It is a great honour…"

Percy put a hand on Dustin's shoulder and directed him upstairs.

"Well, he's lost," Fred said. "C'mon, we'll show you our couch. It's truly fascinating; we got it sometime in the 15th century…"

The three of them moved trough a door at the far side of the kitchen and entered the living room. It was … different.

"We have to remember to save Dustin from Percy…," George said.

"…or he'll die of boredom. A bit of a drag, our brother is." Fred slumped down on the midnight blue sofa and tapped the spot beside him. Sophie followed his invitation with a smile. When she sat down she sunk in so far, she wasn't sure getting up again would be an easy task. But it was comfy.

"By the way, that expelled-thing our mother said, we would never do that," George said, taking a seat in the yellowish armchair opposite to them.

"Yeah, there's a fine line and we're the masters of walking it," Fred said.

"An occasional thumb may cross it…"

"…but never so far as to give Dumbledore a reason to throw us out…"

"…not that he would, our dear insane headmaster…"

"…he likes us way to much." Fred winked at her and Sophie couldn't help but mirror his grin.

"So, Sophie Black in a nutshell, what do we have to know about you?"

Their eyes met. George wasn't grinning like his brother, he smiled. And his eyes were fixed upon her with an expression, she couldn't quite decipher.

She in a nutshell, didn't he find a more difficult question?

"Maltreat my brother and die. Hand me a Quaffel and I'll score. Cross me and regret."

"Quite the spirit, I like it," Fred said.

"Quite the warning, too. So what do you do for fun?"

He had the weirdest questions.

"You do know fun, don't you?" Fred said, observing her.

"I consider flying fun," she said a bit lamely.

How on earth had she landed herself in this interview? Usually she was better at seeing things like these coming and avoiding them.

"Harry said you're a decent flyer, what kind of broom do you fly?" George asked.

"A Shuff-, a Firebolt, since yesterday."

Their eyes widened.

"Merlin, I wish Sirius was our uncle or something," Fred sighed.

"Do you want to play in Hogwarts?"

She shrugged. "If I get the chance to."

"There are tryouts every start of term, I'd like to see you fly."

Fred looked at his brother for a second and a plan rapidly formed in his head.

"Of course, since we're neighbours and all, we could play a round of scaled-down Quidditch in our yard."

George shot him a glance.

_I'll make sure we'll get to know her, or rather that you will,_ he'd said before dinner. If he knew his brother, and he did, Fred was about to do a stupid thing, which was meddling in his non-existent love life.

"Sure, so I reckon you two play?"

"Beaters on the Gryffindor house team," Fred said.

"Oh so you're in the same team as Harry?"

"Yeah, Harry's our Seeker, Oliver is our captain and Keeper and then we have three lovely lady's flying as our Chasers, though Katie finished school last year so we have a spot to fill."

Fred gave her that look.

"We'll see," she said with a smile. "Maybe I won't even be in your house."

"Sirius was," George said.

"Anyhow, I'm gonna go free Dustin from the unendingly compelling stories of our brother," Fred said and got up. "Be right back."

Sophie and George looked at each other, then she looked around the room. A fire was crackling in the crooked chimney and gave the room a warm glow. For a moment there was no other sound.

"How do you like England? I suppose it's very different."

He was spot on. Very different was the term.

"Different, yes. But I like it."

She looked back at him and smiled.

He had brown eyes, chocolate brown. And freckles.

"It must be weird, having a dad all of a sudden."

"It takes some getting used to, I guess," she said, never taking her eyes off him. "But it's good for Dustin."

"Not for you?"

She looked into the fire. "I'm okay."

George examined her closely. She didn't look tense, nor was it in her voice, but something about her told him that she had carefully built walls in place. He wished she'd look at him again. _The eyes are the window to one's soul,_ a former teacher had once told them. And hers were giving away more than her posture, her smile or her words would.

"You're going to be better than okay, though," he said, looking at his hands. "Hogwarts changes people, changes life."

Her eyes met his again.

"And it's fun," he added.

"Is that a promise George Weasley?"

He gave her a surprised grin.

"How come you know who I am? Nobody can tell us apart, not on the first day anyway."

Sophie smiled. Distant footsteps could be heard on the stairs. He looked at her with that same expression, and a part of her came to like his questions.

"I've always had a gift for twins."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading! <strong>

**As you will have noticed, there are some minor and major changes, e.g. that students leave Hogwarts after nine years of school, Sirius was eight years in prison, not twelve, and oh yeah, he has kids, too. **

**I am always happy about constructive criticism to better myself & the story, and/or feedback about what you liked about the chapter!**

**The next one will pick up where we left and end at the morning of September first.**

**Have a beautiful day, **

**Citty**


	3. Two Months

Chapter 3: Two Months

Evening air swirled around them as Harry and Sophie flew back to the cottage.

"I've never been to a professional Quidditch game," Harry said.

"Me neither, but I suppose it's going to be fun."

Harry grinned.

"What?"

"It's going to be fun – it's kind of a slogan with the twins. They're rubbing off on you already."

Sophie shook her head grinning. Her eyes landed on their home. It was getting dark but they clearly could make out a figure at their front door that was not Sirius.

"Who is that?" She asked.

Sirius and Dustin turned up and the dark figure lunged at Sirius. Simultaneously Harry and Sophie drew their wands and hastened their pace.

They hit the ground at ran up to the scene. To her surprise Harry stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Professor, what are you doing here?"

"Good evening Harry," said the man whose arm was around Sirius' shoulder, and then Sophie recognized his voice.

"I was just as surprised," Dustin said with a look to his sister.

"Do you mind lowering your wand?" Sirius asked her.

"Oh, sorry. Hi Lupin."

"And hi to you, too."

"Let's move the party inside," Sirius said and opened the door. "Feet off the table," he told Dustin.

They all sat down around the living room table and their stares were directed to the man next to Sirius.

"I'm sorry to show up unannounced," he said.

"Don't sweat it Mooney."

Remus Lupin smiled at the comment.

"It is nice to see all of you again."

"Totally is, do you live around here, too?" Dustin asked.

"Mh. Not really."

"We will talk about that," Sirius said. "What brings you, other than you just not being able to stay away from me?"

"I have come to visit, to deliver a birthday present and see what you did to the place. It looks better than I expected."

"Molly had a hand in it."

"Naturally."

Lupin pulled a small parcel out of his robe's pockets and handed it to Dustin.

"Even though Sirius was never a fan of them, I thought you may have yet not spent enough time around him to get prejudiced."

Dustin pulled out a book and laughed, so did Harry and Sophie.

"_Magical creatures on Hogwarts' grounds,_" he read. "Thanks."

"I'm sure it'll come in handy."

"What are you doing now, Professor?" Harry asked him.

"I no longer am your Professor, Harry, you can call me Lupin."

"Right."

"At the moment not too much, travelling a bit."

Sirius looked at him from the side. "Talk about that, too," he said so quietly only Lupin heard.

"You guys, why don't you head to your rooms. Give me and Remus time to talk. It's late. I'm sure it won't be the last you'll be seeing of him."

The three of them filled out the room, Dustin went into his and when Harry wanted to vanish in his room, too, Sophie grabbed his shirt and pulled him into her room. She closed the door behind them.

"He looks awful."

"What do you know about him?" Harry asked.

"I know that he's a werewolf if that's what you're hinting at," she said and went over to sit on her bed. Harry took her desk chair.

"I was. And he does. It must've been full moon."

"How was he as a professor?"

"The best. He is fair and knows praxis is much more interesting than theory. And he was always there if you needed to talk, like when you thought your godfather was out to kill you," Harry said. "He had some smart advice."

"Yeah, I remember that. He came along with Sirius when they first visited us in Australia. I liked him."

They were quiet for a bit.

"Do you think he's homeless?" Harry asked.

His worn down robes were nothing unusual, but Lupin looked in bad shape, even by his standards.

"Yeah, I do."

Harry narrowed his eyes at her.

"Just how much have the twins rubbed off on you?" he asked.

"What?"

"Do you think spying on people is very rude?"

She grinned. "I know what you're getting at. I like it."

Harry silently slipped out her door and went to his room. When he turned up again, he held what looked like a human ear with a cord in his hand.

"Extendable Ear," he said. "From Fred and George's repertoire."

They cracked the door open just far enough for the ear to crawl through. It was quite the odd sight and a little disgusting, too. The voices grew louder until they could hear them as if they were standing right next to them.

"The ministry has enough to do. It's almost impossible to keep it under wraps, but so far they've succeeded. Maybe after it's out."

"Rubbish," they heard Sirius say. "Your postponing, Mooney. Injustice deserves more attention than that."

"I'm used to it."

He sounded tired.

"Tell me about it," Sirius said. "Though, this won't continue any longer, not if I can do something about it."

"You want to go to Dumbledore." A pause. "The man has done enough."

"Okay, I can see how he wouldn't be able to give you your job back, even if I can't really, but he can put in a word at the Ministry."

"No." It was firm and final.

"And they've always said I'm the stubborn one. Fine, have it your way. What bench are you going to sleep on tonight? Or are you going to drink through it in a pub?"

"Sirius." It was a warning.

"Come stay with us, I'm serious. I'd like to have you around."

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Please."

"You never say please. Prison has made you soft."

Sirius chuckled.

"Maybe when they're at school and you're lonely," Lupin said.

"A, don't say that and B, they'd like to have you around, too."

"You don't know that."

Sophie and Harry stepped into the hallway.

"Yeah he does," Sophie said.

Yes, they'd been listening, so what.

"We'd love to have you live with us," Harry agreed nodding.

Sirius smirked at them, then at Lupin.

"See? They know no rules. We need you here."

"Plus, I don't even want to try to talk to him about literature," Sophie added.

"Yeah, she doesn't," Sirius said, looking at Lupin.

"It is a generous offer–," Lupin started.

"Do you hear a 'but' coming? I think I hear a 'but' coming," Sirius interrupted him.

Harry and Sophie grinned.

"You are horrible," Lupin said to Sirius.

"That sounds like a yes to me," he said.

Lupin looked between the three and finally gave a nod. "I'll gladly accept the offer, not that you'd not leave me a free choice."

Sirius clapped his back. "Excellent. Let's add a room, shall we?"

"Now?"

"Tomorrow. I'll take the couch-"

"No, no, definitely not. I'll take the couch," Lupin said. "I don't want to hear you complain about your back all day and leave me with all the building work."

Sirius laughed his barking laugh and Harry and Sophie couldn't help but proudly smile at each other.

"Off to bed, now," Sirius said and walked up to them. "And good work."

* * *

><p>"Hey there, Harry!"<p>

He turned to see three read-heads walking up to him.

"Nice little house you've got here," Fred said.

"Yep. I do. Guess who else is living with us now?"

"Another kid?" Ron asked.

"Nope."

"Sirius hot lover-lady?" George tried.

"Nope."

"A stray cat?"

"Professor Lupin," Harry said and Fred mumbled, "close."

"Really? How come?" Ron asked.

"He showed up here day before yesterday and we kidnapped him," Harry said.

"Nice."

"As much as we appreciate your sole presence, Harry, we've come to ask if you wanna play a round of Quidditch. So, where are you hiding that sister of yours?" Fred said.

_Sister_. "She's not here. She went to Diagon Alley with Lupin to buy some books."

"Ah, really? When will they be back?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, two on two doesn't make an awful lot of sense. With Ginny we'd have enough players, but without the girls…," Fred trailed off, looking at his twin. "You up for a trip to the Ministry, then? I'm getting sick of not knowing what our parents are always whispering about."

"So you haven't found out yet?"

"Not for a lack of trying, though," George said.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ron asked.

"It's supposed to be a vegetable patch."

"Yeah, I can totally see it from this angle," Fred said, tilting his head and squinting at the mud at Harry's feet.

"Shut it," Harry said.

"So where's that little brother of yours, then?"

_Brother_. "Inside, cleaning his room. Sirius tries out parenting today."

"Can't let him do that, can we?" George said to Fred and the two waved Harry good-bye, walking towards the house.

"Want any help?" Ron said.

"Do you want to help?"

"Not really."

"Thought so. Wanna go fly around?"

"You just know me, mate."

* * *

><p>Dear Harry<p>

I cannot believe what you've written, it sounds amazing! I knew you'd like living with Sirius but I think nobody would have seen that coming – two kids? From what you've written they sound very nice, I'm looking forward to meeting them.

Ron wrote about the Quidditch Finale (in his two sentence letter) and I can imagine how excited you two must be.

And I have to admit, I am a bit jealous that you get to live with Professor Lupin. He is quite the extraordinary man.

My vacation in France with my parents is lovely. We've seen a bit of Paris but there still is so much to see. Tomorrow we're headed to _the Louvre_. After our week in Paris we'll travel west to the coast. I'll probably be back around the beginning of August, maybe I'll even make it back in time for your birthday.

This Ministry-Secret you've been writing about – I have yet no idea what it could be. And there is no anniversary coming up for Hogwarts, as far as I know, that would explain the dress robes, either, at least I couldn't find anything in _A_ _History of Hogwarts_.

A vegetable patch should not cause you so much trouble, you worked in your aunt and uncle's garden, too, did you not? Try the spell _terra dulcis_. Or just ask Lupin, I am sure he knows what to do. And while we're at it, could you ask him if John Aubrey really hexed the Mona Lisa or if that's just a tale?

Enjoy your holidays and your new family, Harry!

Write soon,

Love, Hermione

* * *

><p>"Still reading school books?"<p>

Sophie looked up and smiled.

"You aren't?"

"Read in bed last night, I'm taking a break."

Harry fell onto the couch next to her.

Dustin, Sirius and Lupin entered the house.

"See, that's what I mean. They're just sitting and reading. It was more fun before your school lists came."

"Stop complaining, Sirius," Lupin said and smiled at the two.

"Right, and you still got me, dad," Dustin said and Sirius patted his head.

"Right you are, son."

"You are such a boy," Sophie said and Harry and she smirked at Sirius who stuck out his tongue.

"Don't dad," Dustin said, "you know better than to mess with my siblings."

Sirius looked at Dustin and then at the two on the couch.

"Siblings?"

"Yeah. Sophie, obviously, and Harry, my WB."

Sophie chuckled while the rest looked confused.

"What's a WB?"

"Water brother," Dustin said and took a left-over muffin from Harry's birthday. "Ifts when waters tigger tfan blotf." He took another muffin with him and bounced out the door again.

"You know the saying 'blood is thicker than water' about family bonds? Well, Dustin kind of got it the wrong way, or the right, I don't know. Either way, take is as a compliment," Sophie said.

And Harry did. Even though his birthday was over, it was the best present Dustin could have given him.

* * *

><p>"Kids, off to bed. We have to get out early tomorrow morning!"<p>

"We really should talk to him about that kids thing," Harry mumbled, "good night, So."

"Night Harry."

Tired as a sleepy Weasley she fell onto her bed and was asleep within minutes.

_You are quite the pro. Watching you fly is like watching you dance._

_Dance. Your freckles dance. They remind me of summer._

_You remind me of summer, the red haired boy said. He had stepped closer._

_I like you, she said._

_He was so close their noses almost touched. A moment ago she had looked into his chocolate brown eyes, now they had turned to glowing red with flames leaping at his iris. _

_I know your secret Sophia, he said but it was no longer his voice. You disgust me, I could never like you._

_No. She tried to shake of his grip on her._

_I hate you. Everybody will hate you. You are nothing. Nothing, nothing…_

Sophie woke with a start. For a second she thought she was back at the old farm house, but she wasn't. This was her room, this was London.

Slowly she sunk back into her pillow, closing her eyes. The next morning, she couldn't remember what she'd dreamt.

"Get up", a fist banged against her door and she groaned.

Her limbs felt weak and her eyelids too heavy to lift.

"Quidditch! Quidditch! Quidditch!" she heard Dustin yell and bounce through the hallway.

It was quiet for a moment and then her door flew open.

"Quidditch! Quidditch! Quidditch!"

Her little brother threw himself on top of her.

She couldn't help but be happy when he was.

"Get off", she said with a laugh.

"We're missing the Portkey, you have to get up now."

His big brown eyes stared into hers.

"Fine", she said smiling, "I'll be out in a second."

He grinned and then hopped off.

"Quiddi-i-i-itch!" He said when he was at the door.

"Quiddi-i-i-itch!" Harry answered him.

Sophie just shook her head.

Fifteen minutes later she was ready to go. They grabbed their bags, bid Lupin good-bye, and then followed Sirius like his little ducklings.

"So where is that Portkey?" the littlest duckling asked.

"Over the hill. We're sharing with the Weasley's and Diggory's."

"Diggory, sounds like a cool pet name."

"You might not want to say that in front of him."

Sophie shook her head and Harry grinned.

"The twins said there will be a lot of the Ministry around, maybe well catch something about that big secret," he said.

Sirius threw them a look over his shoulder.

"Yeah, or we could just convince Sirius to tell us."

They heard him laugh.

"Or not," she mumbled. "Fred and George will sure find a way to trick someone into telling us."

"If George isn't too distracted", Harry said.

"By what?"

"Uh- Quidditch."

When she nodded and looked ahead, he suppressed a smile. Even he had noticed Fred's weird attempts to let them play on the same team every time they flew, or get the room emptied of people so they could talk alone. That's how Percy got his bloody nose.

"I'm so excited!" Her brother said jumping besides their dad.

He was so different already. What a month with a decent family could do…

The sun rose over the hills, the grass was wet, the sky clear of clouds.

"There they are," Sirius said and pointed to a group of red-heads.

"Should I be worried that Ron is deadly sick or does he always look that way when he can't sleep in?"

"The later," Harry said.

"Hey there," Mr. Weasley greeted them. His eyes sparkled with excitement behind his glasses.

Fred looked almost as tired as Ron. Percy and Ginny seemed to be almost well-rested and George, well he looked like he always did.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," she said back and smiled.

"Have a good sleep?"

"Short," she said.

"Yeah me, too."

Together they walked up the last ascent. Arriving on top, Mr. Weasley said they should go looking for something that could be the Portkey. Ginny found an old boot.

"10 Minutes until it's a go", Mr. Weasley said. "Amos better hurry."

"That's the Diggory?" Dustin asked.

"Drop it," Sirius said.

She heard a thud and turned. Ron had collapsed onto the ground and curled up in a ball, head resting on his backpack.

Two minutes later the two Diggory's arrived, father and son.

Cedric wasn't bad looking. He had blond hair, fair skin and a friendly face. He was the typical Prince Charming – and prefect, too. Ginny shot Sophie a glance and she knew she was going to hear swooning later. Cedric was the same age as the twins and she. And he had a proud dad.

"Fingers on the key."

They all made a circle and touched some part of the old boot. It was weird. The next moment they were ripped from the ground and appeared a second later on another hill. But its surroundings couldn't have been more different.

The first thing she noticed was the ear-shattering noise. Horns blew over the crowds of what must have been hundreds of wizards before them. There was chatter, there was singing, there was music. The colours of Ireland and Bulgaria painted the scene in green and white mixed with red and black.

Drums sounded.

"This is crazy", Harry said.

"What?"

"I said this is crazy!"

"It's–"

She couldn't make out what her brother said because a group of young wizards with percussions walked past them, but she said "no cursing" either way.

"Alright, let's get in line," Sirius called over their heads and they followed him and Mr. Weasley.

"Fun, isn't it?" Someone murmured in her ear and she smiled, having a good idea who it was.

As they made their way over the grounds to their assigned camping spot, they took in the spirit of the place. She couldn't find one grumpy looking witch or wizard. While they put up their tents, one for the boys and a smaller one for the two girls, Harry and Ron went to get water.

Ginny and Sophie had their tent up fast. It was magically enhanced inside, so a bathroom, sofa corner and a bunk bed would fit in.

Fred's head appeared. "Up for a walk around?"

They strolled down to one of the market areas. They sold hats, jumpers, player cards, player action figures, badges, horns, glow sticks and a million other items.

"What do you say?" George turned around with a pointy hat on his head. It had green and white stripes and looked like a pyramid.

"Uhm."

"Funny, is the word you're looking for," Fred said.

"Funny," Sophie said.

George chuckled. "Oh look at that one!"

He ended up buying an Irish fan hat with bells on its four ends.

"Your hat is annoying," she told him after they had taken an intensive look around and were on their way back to the tents.

"That's the point," he said.

With every step the bells rang.

The boys' tent was finally up, too, and they had already lit a fire, with a cauldron set above it.

"Arthur! How nice to see you!"

"Ah Ludo. Kids, this is Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. How are you, everything going smoothly?"

"Splendid, splendid," Ludo Bagman, dressed in a lemon yellow robe, said.

Sophie thought he was bit of a joke.

"I don't suppose I could win you for a bet, Arthur? A little money on Bulgaria or Ireland?"

Arthur Weasley shook his head, but the twins exchanged a glance.

"Thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and three Knuts plus a joke wand that Ireland wins but Krum catches the Snitch," they said in unison.

"Boys," Mr. Weasley warned.

"Oh, let them, Arthur. You know how unlikely that is, though?"

"Ireland has the better team," Fred said.

"But Krum is the world's best seeker," George said.

"Alright, I am not the one to judge, just to collect the money."

The twins emptied their pockets and George drew out a joke wand and laid it on top.

"That is all of your savings," Mr. Weasley reminded them.

"C'mon dad, you know we're right."

"Don't tell your mother," was all he said.

"Very well." Bagman beamed. "Sign here please. Boys, if you're right, you'll make a fortune out of this. Anyone else? No? Alright, see you tonight at the game!"

He left.

"What? We are right. Ireland is going to win but there's no way Krum won't catch that Snitch. We just made a fortune," George said.

"If you say so," Sophie said.

He seemed convinced, but she wasn't. Maybe she was wrong, but to her gambling was never a good idea, with money or otherwise.

When the sun began to sink they moved with the crowd to the stadium behind the forest. The Weasleys were all dressed in green from toes to hairline, Sirius, Harry and Dustin, too, had spent quite a bit of money on their Ireland fan items. George wore his annoying hat, she wore a green and white scarf, and Fred, too, was wrapped in a scarf that Sirius had bought him, since he and George had no money left.

They made their way to the high seats just under the IPS, as Fred called it, the important people stands.

"That is the Minister of Magic himself, isn't it?" Sophie asked.

"Yup."

The Minister greeted Arthur and had an awkward second with Sirius. She sat down between the twins. The stadium, Percy explained them, held one hundred thousand people, and as far as they could tell, there would be no seat left. An hour was planned for the observers to find and claim their seats and they leaned back.

"Yes, yes, Bagman is unconcerned as always. Everything just magically falls into place in his little dreamy world."

"Well, well, Barty. Bagman might be a little chaotic at times, but he is the right man for the job. There is always one needed at the front to present, and one in the back pulling strings", Minister Fudge said.

The Barty-man just grumbled something they could not make out. Fred, George and Sophie were leaned so far back into their seats it almost hurt their backs. They strained their ears to make out what the Minister said to Barty next. He had lowered his voice.

"The event at Hogwarts…Dumbleodre is… but the Daily Prophet's nosy reporter…"

They cringed as an ear-piercing voice echoed through the stadium.

"Welcome!" There was a screen showing Bagman, he had his arms spread out and a smile so wide it almost covered up his face.

"Welcome to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup Finale, here in England."

The crowed cheered and they cheered along.

"Today we will witness a game I am positive will throw you out of your seats. We've got Ireland!" Cheers. "versus… Bulgaria!" More Cheers.

"And without further ado, here comes the Irish team."

Bagman named one player after another as the players in green robes raced through the stadium. Leprechauns appeared and danced in the middle of the field, green boots, green jackets, green hats. Suddenly they shot up straight in the air and danced in mid air over the ranks of observers.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Ron shouted and sprang up from his seat, as the Leprechauns took their hats off and showered them in gold. "I'm rich," he said to Harry beaming, his hands full of shimmering galleons.

"And Bulgaaaria," Bagman announced in a deep voice.

The players in red robes shot through the stadium and Mr. Weasley shouted "close your eyes and cover your ears!" Sophie looked around confused.

Women walked, no, floated onto the field. They were singing and blowing the audience kisses. Fred and George had their eyes shut tight, as well as Mr. Weasley and Sirius, who held a hand over Dustin's eyes. Harry, Ron and Percy, however, hadn't been as quick. Gaping and drooling they sat on the edges of their seats, staring down onto the pitch. Ginny, next to Percy, giggled and Sophie wondered what the hell she'd missed.

The screen went from showing the women to showing Bagman. He, too, seemed quite… fascinated. A hand and a glass appeared at the edge of the frame and Bagman was woken from trance by a cold shower.

"Yes, right. Well, those were the mascots of the teams, now the referees on the pitch, please and the Veela please off, thank you."

The woman went to stand on the side of the pitch, opposite the Leprechauns.

"No! Where is he sending them? Is he nuts?" It was Ron.

Mr. Weasley gave him a firm slap onto the back of his head and Ron seemed to come to his senses again.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, blinking stupidly.

"Veela," Percy said, shaking his head. "No man can resist their charm."

"Please, someone give our second referee a slap on the head," Bagman said amused.

The screen showed a bedazzled wizard and the audience laughed.

"Alright, thank you. So, players in the air… release the Bludgers, release the Snitch… the final game of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup starts in 3, 2, 1 – now!"

* * *

><p>"Stop it," Sophie said with a laugh.<p>

"I'm rich," George said, wiggling his eyebrows.

She slapped his shoulder but he threw his arm around her.

"I can make every wish come true now, you know, because… you may haven't heard, but I am rich."

They laughed as they followed their families back to their tents. Fred and George were the lucky ones of the night, though no one else in their Irish-favouring camping area was able to complain either. Ireland had won with 170 to 160, and Krum had caught the Snitch to end Bulgaria's suffering.

"Krum, Krum, Krum!" Ron, Fred and Dustin chanted before them.

"So, was it fun?"

Sophie shook her head smiling. "I never said I don't know what fun is," she reminded him.

"Yeah I know. Still, though, it was, right?"

"Yes, it was."

She looked at him, and then looked away. He still had his arm around her shoulder and was really close.

"Your hat is really horrible," she said after a pause.

He chuckled and took it off.

"Probably suits you better anyway. Hm, yes. I think green looks good on you."

She chuckled and shook her head, sending the arms of the hat flying and bells ringing.

They had arrived at their camping site. While the others vanished in the tents, Sophie and George remained outside.

She looked at him, he looked at the stars.

"Are the stars different in Australia?"

"Yes," she said without looking up.

"Better?"

"Colder."

He raised his hand as if to touch her, but stopped his action mid air.

"They reflect in your eyes," he said.

"Someone once told me that when they do that, the stars in my eyes look like sinking ships in a stormy sea."

She remembered those words clearly. She'd been crying and they hadn't bore the slightest hint of compliment back then. But those days were long gone.

"I think they simply look like stars, reflected by the ocean. It's like they hide away a mystery."

She couldn't help but smile. "A mystery?"

He just nodded. He could've elaborated on that, but it wasn't the right time.

"It really was fun," she said.

Movement behind him then caught her eye. Her smile froze at once.

"What?"

"Turn around, do you see that man? Does he look familiar to you?"

It was the same man as in Diagon Alley, she was sure of it.

"That man in the cloak and hood? He could be Mum for all I can tell."

Sophie shook her head. "I've seen him before. It's weird."

The man watched them watching him.

"Hey!" George called out, "who are ya?"

The man turned and vanished between tents.

"Weird bloke. Where have you seen him?"

"Diagon Alley with Harry. He looked at us funny back then, too."

"I wouldn't worry about it," George said. "And maybe you've mistaken him, I mean, he wore a cloak and all."

"Yeah," she said. "Maybe I have."

She was sure she hadn't, but it was pointless to argue the point.

"Well." She smiled and sat the hat back on his head. "Goodnight George Weasley."

"Goodnight Sophie Black," he said with a grin.

Her smile made her face ache and she turned to join Ginny in their tent.

George turned to go inside the boy's tent and he saw that a pair of eyes was watching him.

"Stalker," he said grinning.

"Hopeless," Fred said, grinning himself, and let his twin in.

* * *

><p>One and a half more weeks to go and they'd be leaving for Hogwarts.<p>

"So you've given up?"

"Nah, Weasleys don't give up. We're just planning to get the info we want at the 1st of September."

"Coincidentally the date, your father said we'd learn what all the fuss is about anyway."

"Exactly."

Sophie smirked.

George took a deep breath.

"Alright let's do it."

"What's gotten into you?"

"Well, it's exciting, isn't it? I've never been to your room before, who knows what dark secrets it may reveal."

She opened the door and stepped in. "And, anything revealed?"

George looked around. There was her trunk at the end of her bed, no clothes lying on the floor, just a jumper hung over the back of her chair. Her desk was tidy. Her bed was made.

"The collected works of Shakespeare?" he asked, picking up the book on her bedside table, or heaving it up, rather.

"Mhm"

"Muggle author?"

"I like reading Muggle literature, they've written a lot more than wizards have and I like his style."

George sat on her bed and flicked through a few pages.

"So what's he writing about?"

"Everything, really, from love to hate, war and crime. But in almost every story there is something like a masquerade ball, where people hide their identity behind masks. I think he describes them pretty well."

"Why would people hide their identity?"

He looked up and she looked at him. She couldn't tell whether he was being cute or being honest, probably both. Her lips curved into a smile and so did his, but the question was left unanswered.

He put the book back.

"I'm jealous," he said, pointing to her Firebolt.

"Me, too."

He looked confused.

"Sometimes I forget it's mine."

"I can imagine", he said smiling. "You're not a fan of pictures, then, huh?"

His eyes wandered over her picture-less walls and desk.

"I don't have a lot," she said. She had some in her bedside table but he needn't know that. They were old and worn and mostly showed dead people.

"We'll change that. There are a lot of things at Hogwarts you can get a picture with."

She laughed. "And I suppose that would be considered fun?"

"Yes, you suppose correctly." He grinned.

She loved his grin, not that she would ever admit that. She liked his grin, that's more like it.

"So, last week home."

"Yep," she said. "Dustin and Sirius are getting cranky."

She sat down and leaned over the back of her chair.

"It must be hard, having to separate again with only spend two short months together, after so much time apart."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You don't call him dad."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

He and his questions. Sophie really didn't know why she answered them. If it had been anyone else, if someone had asked her questions like this half a year ago, she probably wouldn't have answered at all, not with words, anyway.

"I don't know. It would be weird, weirder than not calling him dad. I know he doesn't like it, but right now, I don't know. I just don't feel like it."

"Understandable."

"Is it?"

"Sure."

She looked at him, into his chocolate brown eyes, framed by the freckles that gave his face an air of summer.

"What's you're secret?" She asked him.

"What?"

"You always ask questions, I don't mind, but I want to get some answers from you now. So, George Weasley in a nutshell, what do I have to know about you?"

He grinned but inside, his heart doubled its speed. He felt the strong impulse to just press his lips on hers and tell her that was all she needed to know. But that was macho and stupid.

"Let's see. I'm a twin. I'm a trouble-maker. I'm fun."

He didn't know if it was much of an answer but she smiled and he was happy with that.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you in action," she said picking up a quill and playing with it between her fingers.

"I'm looking forward to throw you right in the middle of my actions."

"Sophie! George! Dinner!"

They rose to their feet.

"Are you sure you want to eat here? It won't be half as good as your Moms."

"The company will make up for it," he said. "And if the worst comes to the worst, I can still look for something edible when I get home."

"Fair enough."

* * *

><p>She had thrust aside the Ministry's big secret and the man that had watched her in Diagon Alley and at the game. Sophie was solely focused on comforting her little brother, comforting her dad, comforting Lupin because he'd be left alone with a bored Sirius, and not thinking about a special twin too much.<p>

Her thoughts dealt with Hogwarts and their life. Their very different life in England. She felt like she could handle whatever life or the Ministry or whoever would throw at her and that made her stomach ache and her heart hurt.

Because life had taught her that whenever things were good, they were about to turn bad. And things had never been better, not in the last decade anyway.

She had watched the night fall over the land outside the living room's big windows. All doors were closed, Harry's, and Lupin's at the end of the hallway, all except one.

"You should try to sleep," she heard Sirius say.

"But dad, tomorrow I will see Hogwarts! It's a life changing experience, how could I sleep?"

She heard their father chuckle.

"Hogwarts will amaze you. You will spend some of the best years of you life there, but only if you're awake enough. Sleep now, son."

She heard sheets move.

"We will be fine, right?"

"Better than fine."

"Dad?"

"Mhm."

"I'll miss you."

* * *

><p>The morning of first September came over the little cottage on the hill, and with it an amount of emotions that threatened to drown its inhabitants.<p>

"I'll miss you," Dustin said for the thousandth time, but it never lost heart.

"Don't forget anything," Sirius said, as he had equally often done the past few days.

"It'll be fine," Lupin repeated, Harry nodded at that, and Sophie just smiled, like she always did when she had nothing to say.

"Alright then, grab your things, it's time to go."

Dustin grabbed Sirius' arm, and Harry and Sophie Lupin's, even though they all knew that she _could_ have apparated on her own. But no, she'd only turn seventeen in a week and then she'd still have to get that damn unnecessary license.

She closed her eyes.

Her life had changed 180 degrees in the last couple of months, but when she'd open them again, life would be unrecognizable.


	4. The Night of September First

**Thank you so much for your reviews! And special thanks to **_wildspiritontheloose_**, you made my day! Enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: The Night of September First<p>

Not every thing in life is certain. In fact, most things aren't. But as Sophie looked out of the train's compartment window, she was sure she'd never forget seeing the red, steaming Hogwarts-Express for the first time.

"Dustin, buddy, you really have to calm down," Fred said.

"Yeah, you'll die of a heart attack before we even get there," George said.

"This. Is. So. Cool!"

"I worry about him," Fred said and Sophie shook her head smiling.

"How about we walk you down the train?" George said. "Get some of that tension worked out?"

Dustin nodded so hard George's head began to feel dizzy just from looking at him.

"There's an idea. You two hold the ford," Fred said and he and Dustin left the compartment.

"Okay, or he goes." He looked at his only other companion. "Aren't you excited at all or just better at hiding it?"

George changed into the seat at the window his twin had occupied.

"Better at hiding it," Sophie said with a smile and watched the trees passing by. "I don't remember the last time I felt this nervous."

"It'll be fine."

"Don't say that. I can't hear it anymore."

"Sorry. It'll be horrible."

"Well, don't say that, either."

They grinned at each other.

"What can I do?"

"Tell me about the biggest prank you've ever pulled."

"Oh, nice. I have to think about that one-"

"There you are." The compartment door slid open and Harry appeared. "This is Hermione, Hermione, this is Sophie."

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to say hello before Hogwarts."

Harry's friend smiled at her. She had bushy brown hair and a nice smile, though rather large front teeth.

"You're not interrupting, it's nice to meet you, too. Harry has told me so much about you, I feel like we already know each other."

"Have you really?" Hermione looked at him puzzled.

"Mentioned you once or twice. You know, that you don't like Quidditch, or that you would know how to hex the shed door open when it stuck and _Alohomora_ wouldn't work, or when I asked Lupin about the _Mona Lisa_. Like that. It's not like I wouldn't shut up about you."

"No need to be defensive," George said grinning.

Hermione shot the twin a warning look but seemed amused.

"Well, it's even nicer to meet you in person, then."

"Hungry," they heard Ron's voice from behind the two.

"We're on our way to hijack the trolley, you guys want anything?" Harry asked, "…okay, see you later," and he vanished from the door.

Hermione smiled and she, too, was gone.

"Nice."

"Bookworm," George said.

Sophie raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that. I mean I do, too, have literature on my bedside table so heavy I could squish a gnome with it."

"Of course you do."

"Bet cha. No, I know, she's nice. Our pranks wouldn't be half as fun if Hermione didn't turn scarlet whenever she'd catch us in one."

"I really am curious, you know. If that's just all talk, or not."

"Please, do you really think I'm just all talk?"

"We'll see," Sophie said with a laugh.

The compartment door slid open once more.

"Hey G-, hi."

A dark skinned boy with frizzy dreadlocks and widened brown eyes stared at them.

"Am I interrupting?"

A smile tucked at the corners of her mouth. Why did everyone always ask that, did they look so… engaged?

"No, Lee, meet Sophie Black. She's in our year."

"Oh, hey. I've never seen you, you aren't a Gryffindor, are you?"

"It's my first year here."

"Is it really?"

George patted the seat beside him and Lee sat down.

"Where're you from?" he asked.

"Australi-"

"Wait a second," he said, "Sorry, but you're not Sirius Black's daughter, are you?"

"She is."

"I am."

"No way. That old rat eating Marauder has a daughter? No way."

Sophie chuckled, unsure if she should feel offended.

"And a son, actually, but he's patrolling the corridors with Fred right now."

"Another Black in Hogwarts, this is going to be interesting. Are you more a Slytherin or a Gryffindor?"

Sophie shrugged. "We'll see I guess."

"From what I can tell, she's no Slytherin."

"Because you like her," Lee said smirking and George punched him.

"Ouch!" Lee massaged his shoulder. "He likes you," he said grinning mischievously and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Actually, I just remembered. You are interrupting, get out," George said.

"Never," Lee said. "So let's play three questions, shall we. One, what broom do you fly?"

"Firebolt."

George smirked when Lee's jaw dropped.

"Two, what do you think is a better colour-combination: yellow and black, blue and bronze, green and silver or red and gold?"

Sophie shared a look with George. "Red and gold?"

"Three, do you have a boyfriend?"

She smiled. "No, I don't."

"Dude, I think I'm in love."

Get in line, George thought.

"Don't worry, So, Lee's in love with everybody."

"That's true," Lee admitted. "I was actually on my way to ask Angie to marry me."

"How come?"

"Well, I couldn't ask her all summer, it's been months. Maybe she changed her mind."

"Right."

Lee didn't move.

"Today, or?" George asked.

"Mhm," Lee said. "One last question, okay?"

Sophie nodded.

"Are you in need for another friend?"

"Sure," she said smiling.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."

At the door Lee turned one last time.

"I wasn't interrupting, was I?"

When he closed the door with a grin, he could hear George's groan and her silent laughter. Interesting way to begin a year, Lee thought. Whistling to himself, he walked down the corridor, an eye out for either Angie or the second twin.

"You know, grey really doesn't suit you," George said when they had changed into their school robes. "I'd lend you one of mine, though it would look funny if you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor."

"Are you biasing me, George Weasley?"

"Never." George grinned.

"How big is this train anyway? Fred and Dustin have been gone for ages."

"Maybe they ran into Lee." He yawned.

"Tired?"

"Nah. I'm fine. I do sleep on the train, usually, though."

"I'm keeping you up, sorry. Go to sleep."

"And miss this, yeah right."

Miss this. Miss what? What was he talking about and why did he smile at her like that.

"You look confused," he said and chuckled. "It's cute."

He's flirting. Was he flirting with her? Please no, she liked him. She didn't want to hurt him.

"What Lee said - I don't want a boyfriend either," she said. "I think I should make that clear."

George changed back into his old seat beside her.

"That's okay. You should, however, be prepared that, as a friend, I am going to tell you that you look cute when you scrunch up your nose like that and look like a confused puppy."

She laughed. George leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"And now I'm going to sleep."

"Because I told you I don't want a boyfriend?"

"No, because I am keeping you up." He opened one eye and looked at her. "You just yawned."

"Oh, have I? I have." She hadn't even noticed.

"Mhm, you have."

She smiled at him. He had his eyes closed and smiled, too.

Deciding that he was worth her trust, even though she probably had decided that weeks ago, but deciding it once and for all, she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

George's eyes flew open. Fuck. He wasn't one to curse but oh damn. He was in for it, big time. She didn't want a boyfriend, she wanted him to be a friend. She needed a friend. And he gladly was her friend, but that feeling she evoked in him, whenever she smiled, whenever she would tuck her hair behind her ear, whenever they'd touch. He had never touched anyone. Focus, Weasley, he said to himself. You're lucky she wants to be your friend. Just, get over it already.

About half an hour they sat like this, recalled the last weeks and wondered what the upcoming ones would bring. Then Fred und Dustin reappeared.

"This. Is. Awesome!" Her brother said and jumped into the window seat opposite her. "I met so many people, Sophie, and they're so nice!"

Fred stood by the door and gave his twin a pointed look. George gave him one back.

"Really? So you had a good time?"

"Grand. You know, I met Lee, you've met him, he's super cool. And I met Angie, the Chaser on the team, too. And Dean and Seamus, and Hermione and Neville, he has a toad, So, and then we got chocolate frogs from the trolley, here I brought you one, and – oh, you've changed into robes."

And he climbed up in his seat to get his robe out of his trunk.

Fred sat down beside him. "Careful that you don't fall, buddy," he said when the train gave a jolt and Dustin momentarily lost is grip.

"I'm fine!"

"So, what have you two been up to?"

"Hermione and Lee said hello," Sophie said.

"And then we enjoyed the quiet without you people."

"Quiet is boring," Dustin said, rummaging around his luggage. "Got cha."

The last twenty minutes he sat, despite his claim of before that quiet was boring, silently and nervous as a wreck in his seat, staring at a point next to George's right foot.

Night had fallen over the world outside their compartment. "Hogsmeade station," a woman's voice said over the speaker and they heard movement before the door.

"This is it," Fred said and clapped Dustin on his back. "Come on, buddy, time to face the fun."

They gathered their belongings.

"I'll take that owl for you," George said. "You don't need it on the boat."

"Boat? What boat? Sophie?"

"Come on, It'll be –" she smiled, "not horrible."

They moved out along with the rest of the students and Dustin was collected by a giant man named Hagrid.

"Don't worry," George said to her. "Hagrid looks scary but he has the biggest heart, literally, actually. Come, Dustin is in good hands. Since we're no first years we don't get the service to be shipped to Hogwarts, we have to catch a carriage or are forced to walk."

She followed the twins and Lee from Hogsmeade Station down to a trail that led through a short patch of wood and then she spotted the carriages. Each was pulled by black, winged horses.

Thestrals, she thought to herself and wondered if Fred and George could see them, too. Only people that had consciously witnessed death were able to.

Fred and Lee climbed into one of the carriages and she heard Lee ask, "mind if we join you folks?"

When she wanted to climb in, too, a voice held her back.

"Sophia Elizabeth and so on Black?"

She and George turned, "uhm yeah?"

"Come with me, please."

She looked at George, waved and followed the man. His back was bent and he had a funny, hobbled walk. His hair was greasy and he had a crooked nose, but most of all a very, very unfriendly look.

"I am the caretaker Filch," the man said, or spat, rather. "Gonna take you up to Dumbledore."

She wondered why they were walking, then, and where. The twin's carriage left and Filch led her a little off the road to the side. Between two birches they stopped.

"Hold this", he said and put a golden key in her hands.

"You will follow the rules at Hogwarts, won't you girl? You better, or I'll hang you up your to-"

Sophie was ripped away from him and landed with her feet on stony ground a blink of an eye later.

"Ms. Black, welcome to Hogwarts."

Dumbledore.

"Before the feast, I would like to sort you into your house. I suppose you would like to know where to find your seat."

Dumbledore was… magnificent. He had a long white beard and long white hair and a robe of purple fabric. Sophie recognised him from several chocolate frog cards Harry had shown her. His bright blue eyes behind the half-moon glasses twinkled down to her.

"Good evening Professor Dumbledore," Sophie said.

Dumbledore smiled.

She took a quick look around and found that they were in an empty classroom.

"Your future Transfiguration classroom," Dumbledore said.

Sophie looked back at him.

"May I introduce you to our Sorting Hat."

The headmaster pointed to a leather hat on the teacher's desk. It looked very old and worn.

"This hat sorts our students into theirs houses. All you have to do is put it on."

Sophie stepped over to the hat, looked at it and set it on her head.

_Ahh_.

She winced.

_An older student, what surprise. Welcome to Hogwarts, Ms. Black._

_Uhm thanks?_ she thought. It was weird. Was she supposed to hold a conversation with that hat in her head, or had she simply lost her mind?

_I see wit, talent, and quite a bit of spirit, too. So where to put you? Any preferences?_

Sophie's mind travelled back to Madam Malkin's and trousers but she remembered that she was supposed to talk with the hat and dismissed the thought.

_Well, my parents were in Gryffindor and I've met nice people that are there, too._

_Oh yes, the legendary Sirius Black, I remember him. Another Black in the house of Godric Gryffindor, you say? Are you sure? So it be:_ "Gryffindor!"

The last word the hat had said out loud, which was even weirder than talking with him wordlessly, but Dumbledore seemed satisfied.

"Very well. Just out the door and down the stairs, then, Ms. Black. And welcome to Hogwarts again."

"Thank you, Professor," Sophie said and opened the door. She could hear and see the other students just down the stairs. She looked up and saw a few dozen staircases above her, and some were moving, too, just floating through the air from one side to another. How big exactly was this school?

She decided to find out later. With a look back, she saw that Dumbledore had vanished. Okay, school of magic, what did she expect.

Slowly she began walking down the stairs towards the two enormous wooden doors in a golden frame that the other students went through. At the doorstep she spotted three familiar heads, two red and one of black dreadlocks.

Grinning, she joined Lee and the twins.

"And?" Fred asked.

"Green and Silver it is, got too much of my father's blood in me, apparently."

"Ah really? Well, suppose you're our first Slytherin friend then," Lee said.

"Wait, Slytherin? Oh no, I mixed up the colours, red and gold it was."

She grinned.

"You!" George said and hugged her. "Don't ever do that again," he said chuckling.

"Well, come on then," Fred said shaking his head, "let's find ourselves some seats."

They moved between the incoming students and let themselves be swept into the Great Hall. Sophie couldn't have been responsible for moving her legs, she was too overwhelmed to do anything but stare.

The Great Hall was exactly that, a great, very great hall. Four long tables of wood stood in the middle, with banners of the house colours hanging above them. At the opposite end was another table. It was set on a stage and overlooked the rest of the hall - that was where the teachers sat.

Candles went around, floating in mid-air, thousands of them. Mullioned windows that reached all the way up framed the walls, and the ceiling – wait, was there no ceiling?

"Bewitched to look like the sky outside," Fred said.

Genius.

She directed her gaze back to eye-level. Students bustled along, greeting each other, hugging, laughing.

They moved to sit at the front of the Gryffindor table.

"And?"

"Wow."

"You missed the look at the castle from outside. Remind me to show you another time," George said.

"Hey, isn't that bloke someone from the ministry?" Lee asked and pointed to the staff table.

"Barty Crouch," George nodded. "Remember, we've met him at the Quidditch Final, he was talking to Fudge."

"What is a ministry pet doing in Hogwarts?" said Fred, before his eyes grew big.

"The secret!" the twins said at once.

"I totally forgot!" George said.

"Me, too. Well, this is going to be fun," Fred said rubbing his palms together.

The Great Halls' atmosphere was unique and Sophie tried to breath it in to remember it forever.

The candles and chandeliers painted the scene in a warm light and she couldn't help but smile. She looked around and noticed some people looking at her.

"Hey guys," a brown haired boy took the seat beside Lee. "Who are you?"

"That's Sophie. Our year, our house, first year here," Lee said.

"Nice to meet you." He got to his feet and shook her hand over the table before sitting down again. "I am Kenneth Towler, Kenny in short."

"He's our dorm brother, our dorm, that's the four of us," George said.

"Sound's …fun."

"She's getting it," Fred smirked.

The door behind the teacher's staff table opened and Dumbledore appeared, and with him a new face, and a scary one.  
>"Merlin, that's Mad-Eye Moody!" Lee said wide-eyed. "What is he doing here?"<p>

"Who?" Sophie asked.

"Mad-Eye Moody was Head of the Auror Department in the Ministry of Magic. He's responsible for most arrest after the reign of You-Know-Who and it's said that he prevented single handed an uprising of fanatics a few years back."

Sophie looked at Lee and back at Moody. He did look like the rumours about him could be true. His face was covered in scars, he had one creepy, electric-blue magical eye and a wooden leg. With every step a _thonk_ sounded and Dumbledore showed him to his seat.

"That's the seat for the Def teacher," George said.

"The what?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts class," he explained.

The door opened again.

"When Hagrid's here it's about to start soon," Fred said.

And once again, it opened.

"Bagman. Looks like we'll get our money today, brother."

Dumbledore rose from his seat and extended his arms. Silence fell over the hall.

He sat down again and the doors to the Great Hall swung open. And as Sophie turned, she saw her brother walking behind a strict looking teacher with the biggest smile on his face. He caught her eye and gave her a thumbs-up.

"He's excited," George murmured in her ear.

Sophie nodded and had to fight the lump in her throat. After all these years, finally her one wish came true. The one she put above all else, worked for tirelessly, got beaten up for, but never wavered in whishing for: a normal, happy childhood for her brother.

She swallowed and watched the Sorting Ceremony begin.

"I will now read the names of Hogwarts' new first year students. Upon hearing your name, you will step up, sit down, and the Sorting Hat shall determine your house," the strict looking witch said.

"Avery, Fritz."

George chuckled and she kicked him under the table.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat called and the Ravenclaw table cheered.

"Black, Dustin."

Sophie crossed her fingers under the table. It didn't matter which house was right for him, but it would be easier to keep an eye on him if it was Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled the second it hat touched the tip of his hair.

The witch took the hat and Dustin jumped from the seat, fisted the air, and ran down to the Gryffindor table, where he jumped into George's arms, before hugging his sister.

Some student's laughed at his obvious joy and then the witch continued with the sorting.

When every first year had found their seat, she sat down at the staff table and Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"First of, a warm welcome to our new first years. May your heads be filled with knowledge and your hearts with friendships that shall last forever. I would also like to take the time to wish Ms. Sophie Black a pleasant year at Hogwarts, who will be attending sixth year in Gryffindor house. I am sure you will give her a warm welcome."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in her direction, but she just stared at him in shock that he had actually just mentioned her name.

"Before we begin, I would like to direct some well chosen words to you all," he said. "Usually I let you have your dinner, before lulling you to sleep with a reminder of rules and such. This year, however, I'd like to have your fullest attention… but first, I would like to introduce to you your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, former Head of the Auror Department, Professor Moody."

Moody looked at them with both his eyes and it was an unsettling sight, how he took in the Hufflepuff table with his normal eye and swept over the Slytherin table with his magical one.

Some students clapped politely but for the most part people were too taken aback by his appearance to remember pleasantries.

"Now, please welcome Mr. Crouch, Head of the Department for International Magical Cooperation and Mr. Bagman, Head of the Department for Magical Games and Sports."

The students and teachers clapped. Some boys even stood up, cheering for Bagman.

"Played professional Quidditch back in the day," George said when she looked at him puzzled.

"This year," Dumbledore said and he was beaming, radiating off light and warmth and excitement, "Hogwarts is host to an old and almost forgotten tradition. Almost 700 years ago, the three biggest schools for magical education came together and organized a tournament that should decide which school educated the most skilled student."

Whispers swept over the body of students, sinking between them and then bubbling up again.

Intrigued, Sophie and the boys listened carefully. The headmaster's voice sounded mysterious as it was, but speaking of a long forgotten tradition of a few hundred years back, added another layer to his story.

"This year," he said and Sophie had the feeling he looked at each and every one of them, but it was only a heartbeat later that he continued, "Hogwarts is host to the delegations of our neighbour schools, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute."

"This year," he said, his voice almost a whisper, but clear as the crystal surface of a lake in spring. The hall was so quiet a falling feather would have disrupted the silence. "Hogwarts will be host to the Triwizard Tournament."

* * *

><p>"We're almost seventeen," Fred complained.<p>

"I'm sure there's a way to trick that cup," George said.

"Yeah, we aren't us for no reason."

"Exactly right."

"Let's come up with a plan," Lee said, "until Halloween we should have found a way to enter our names."

"Glory and fame – and the prize money!"

The three boys sighed and stared ahead dreamily.

"What are you chuckling about?"

"Just happy to witness a bit of your mischief charm," Sophie told him.

George grinned.

"Hey, before we go to the dormitories, are you very tired?"

"No, only full of adrenaline. What's your plan?"

"I was just thinking, you didn't get to see Hogwarts from the grounds but maybe you want to see the grounds from Hogwarts?"

Later, Sophie would learn that whenever George said 'I was just thinking' that she should shake her head no, cover his mouth with her hand and talk him out of whatever he had planned.

But on this first of September she didn't know, and so she smiled and nodded.

George gave his two friends a sign and they went on without them. The two ducked out the crowd and walked down another corridor.

"My first rule breaking on my first day, should I be concerned?"

George just grinned.

The corridors had a floor of stone, but the walls were covered by wooden pallets, along with tapestries and paintings. Torches that hung from them painted the corridor in a warm, flickering light. The windows, however, were black holes and shadows lurked in every corner.

"Through here," George said and pushed aside a squared tapestry.

She looked at the pitch black passageway and to him. Then she drew her wand, whispered "_Lumos"_ and went on. He better knew not to mess with her.

"Lumos," he said behind her and his wand, too, illuminated the narrow passage before them.

"Just go on, it runs on for a while."

She tried not to break out in sweats and pants as the secret passageway showed yet another climb.

"Last one," she heard him say behind her.

They hit the main corridors again after climbing out behind a painting of a fox and there were stairs, a lot of stairs.

"I know," he said when she didn't look too enthused. "But the view will be worth it."

And so they journeyed on, up the spiral staircase to the highest tower of Hogwarts.

George tipped a wooden door over their heads and a ladder appeared. On the rooftop wind blew through her hair and a million stars twinkled from the night's sky. He climbed out behind her and tucked his wand away.

Sophie looked from one side to the other, there was not an awful lot she could see, but what she was able to make out was sufficient to render her momentarily speechless. There was a wood, the forbidden forest probably, that stretched on and melted into the sky and then there was a lake, reflecting the light of the stars.

"The hut over there is Hagrid's," George said.

It was the only source of light besides the stars and some behind windows of other Hogwarts' towers.

Sophie tucked her wand away and wrapped her cloak tighter around herself.

"Somewhere over there is the Quidditch pitch. I know it's pretty dark but I think the view is good nevertheless."

She turned around from looking at where he had pointed and faced him. "It's perfect."

George smiled.

"What's that light, the faint one over there?"

"The greenhouses where Herbology is taught. Professor Sprout probably wishes her plants goodnight."

Sophie turned again but this time something else caught her eye, not light, but shadow.

"Is someone else here?"

George followed her gaze. Sophie lifted her wand. "_Lumos_".

And then they saw her, clearly set apart from the darkness behind her. Howling wind tore at their cloaks and the sight made their skin crawl.

"Shit," George whispered.

The girl's dark hair swept with the wind but she was still like a marble figure.

"What do we do, stupefy her?"

"She could fall," Sophie heard herself say, but she hadn't even noticed forming the words. All she was aware of was the girl standing outside the railing, with hands as white as marble that were the only thing keeping her from falling.

"Shit."

"Hey, don't let go okay?" she called.

It was a stupid thing to say but the only thing running through her mind.

From one second to the other the rooftop had lost all its appeal. The light had turned cold, the stars indifferent, and the shadows vicious.

They took a few steps forward. The girl's head turned towards them.

Her eyes were dark spots and they could not make out their expression, but her face was as white as her hands. She wore her school robes and Sophie could make out yellow lines beneath. The girl was a Hufflepuff.

"Please," Sophie said. "Whatever got you up here, we'll help, please don't let go."

A few steps more she took towards the girl.

And the girl still looked at them.

Sophie was not half way there, when the girl spoke, and her ghostly voice send shivers down their backs.

"Help me," she breathed.

One of her hands clutched at her necklace, and then she took the other hand off the rails, too.

"No!" George called but it was too late.

They heard the flutter of her robes against the wind and she was gone, swallowed by darkness.

For a few heartbeats they stood rooted there, staring at the spot where the girl had been. The night felt cold, as if the temperature had dropped with her sudden departure.

Sophie couldn't stand the darkness anymore. She turned to look at George and saw a few tears run down the freckled face that always had an air of summer and laughter about it.

He looked at her and she looked at him.

* * *

><p>Dumbledore's office was place full of wonders. Maybe if she had been there for another reason, at another day, she would have looked around intrigued. But on the night of that first of September she didn't look around, Sophie watched her hands while the teachers around her argued with another.<p>

"… it's not even the first day of school…"

"…she was dead as she hit the ground, nothing anyone could've done…"

"…parents have been notified… on their way here…"

"… the tournament, should it take place…"

"…what reason, what reason could she have had…"

"…why…"

"Sophie."

She looked up at Dumbledore and the others fell silent. "Please tell us again every detail that you can remember, anything."

"She stood there, outside the railing, both hands around it. She must've been there some time, her hands were white. Her face, too. She looked at us, when I told her not to let got. She said 'help me' before she let got. And she touched her necklace before she fell."

It was the third time she'd told them that.

"What necklace?" It was Barty Crouch who asked. His voice was like acid etching through the air and his grey eyes like piercing daggers.

"The one around her neck," Sophie said, a little harsher than intended, but she didn't like this man. Not how he looked at her, anyway.

Crouch looked at Moody, who stood a little behind the chair she was sitting on.

"We've found no necklace on her."

"Girl," Crouch said.

"She had one, maybe she lost it."

Dumbledore nodded at Moody, who _thonked_ through the office to the door and left. Hagrid left with him. Only the headmaster, Crouch, Bagman, who sat slumped down on a desk at the wall, Professor McGonagall, the witch that had lead the sorting, and the chubby Professor Sprout, next to McGonagall, a handkerchief in hand, remained.

"I have to ask you not to speak to anyone about what you've witnessed tonight," Dumbledore said. "It will be better."

Sophie nodded.

"You may go."

She stood and left without looking back. When the door behind her had swung close she found herself at the end of yet another corridor that looked just like any she had walked that night.

And then she realized that she had actually no idea where she was supposed to go.

"Sorry," someone said and she almost didn't recognize the voice. It had nothing of its usual cheerfulness. "We should've just gone to the dormitories."

She took a few steps and then found him sitting at the wall behind a suit of armour. George stared at his hands through glassy eyes. "We should have just gone there."

Sophie crouched down before him and put her hands on his knees. "That wouldn't have changed what happened. She wouldn't have been found until tomorrow, younger students could have just stumbled across her. This way she wasn't alone before she fell."

"She wasn't alone?" He looked at her. "Before she fell? Sophie, she didn't fall, she let go. She jumped."

"I know."

He shook his head, ran a hand through his hair so it looked even messier, and distantly stared at his hands again.

"Did you know her?"

"No. Not really. She was a year above us. Maybe I've seen her, maybe I've even pulled a prank. I don't remember."

He looked at her hands on his knees and then into her eyes.

"Shitty first day."

Sophie smiled weakly and nodded. "Could have been better."

"Sorry," he said again.

"Don't. It's not your fault. Without you it would've been worse."

"Ms. Black, Mr. Weasley." It was Professor McGonagall. She was dressed in night robes and cast them a look of sympathy. Sophie was right with her assumption that that was a rare sign with that particular witch.

"Come on, to your feet. I'll walk you back to your dormitories."

Sophie got up and pulled him to his feet.

"Not the best first day," the teacher commented and Sophie nodded. "Well, it only can get better from here, can't it."

Professor McGonagall had quite the pace. She wasn't the youngest anymore but definitely no one Sophie would like to cross.

"I am the house teacher, by the way. Welcome to Gryffindor, Ms. Black."

"Oh, thank you."

"Yes, yes."

They hurried along corridor after corridor, up some stairs and down some others. Sophie couldn't have found the way back if her life had depended on it.

The castle was quiet and dark.

"Oh and Mr. Weasley, you might not want to make nightly trips a habit. You know that under normal circumstances this would have consequences."

"Yes, Professor, sorry, Professor."

"Yes, well."

They made halt in front of a portrait of a woman.

"The Fat Lady," George said and Sophie thought him brave for saying that in front of McGonagall, but as it turned out that was the portraits actual name.

"Orange biscuit," McGonagall said and the Portrait swung open.

They climbed in and Sophie entered the common room for the first time.

"Off to bed, Mr. Weasley."

"Night So," George said and crossed the room.

It was round and dark. She could make out some tables and chairs and a fireplace, but the fire had gone out. Only two torches illuminated the room.

"Ms. Black," Professor McGonagall said, when George had gone. "I must remind you not to tell anyone that you and Mr. Weasley were the ones that witnessed Ms. Moloney's fall."

Nice euphemism for suicide and death, Sophie thought.

"And also, you should take a look at Hogwarts' rules. Strolls around the castle after curfew, however charming the company, are strictly forbidden."

Sophie nodded.

"Good. I expect the headmaster will want to have a word sometime this week. Until then, try to make peace with what you have witnessed today. Your room is up the stairs to the right and then three more. Your name will be on the door. If someone asks, you were in the headmaster's office this evening to settle some transfer issues regarding your old school."

She nodded again.

"Goodnight Ms. Black."

"Goodnight Professor."

So this was it. The legendary Hogwarts castle.

Alone in the Gryffindor common room Sophie tried to grasp all that had happened. First night, first rule break, first call into the headmaster's office, first time seeing him cry, first death. Yeah, it definitely could only improve from there.

She kicked a Quaffle lying in her way to the stairs.

All she had wanted was a peaceful, quiet life.

What in Merlin's name had she gotten herself into this time?

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter – "The Magic of Hogwarts" – will be up soon.<strong>

**Enjoy the day,  
>Citty<strong>


	5. The Magic of Hogwarts

**Thank you so, so much for your reviews! They are the best holiday gifts!  
><strong>**Enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: The Magic of Hogwarts<p>

"What is it that keeps you in this life?"

"The same thing that keeps everyone, the will to survive."

"And what would you say could break that will?"

"Could we talk about something else?"

"Of course. Tell me about your first day here, Sophia."

"Call me Sophie, please."

"Sophie, then."

"Alright. Well, after the first night I had quite a, uhm, twisted picture of Hogwarts. It changed rather quickly though. It all started in the morning, when I first met my dorm mates…"

* * *

><p>"Pat, are you serious?"<p>

"It would do you good, too, you know."

"Pfha, not a herd of Hippogriffs would get me out for a run at five in the morning. And don't say it."

"Well, have you looked in the mirror, Ash?"

"I told you not to say it," somebody grumbled.

Sophie opened her eyes. The curtains around her four-poster bed were closed and she heard shuffling on the other side. The bed was bigger and cosier than any bed she'd ever slept in. Under sheets white as snow she lay and listened.

"Really, our first day back and already you two are bickering?"

"We're not bickering, I merely just advised dear Alicia here that…"

"Shove it."

"No need to be unfriendly, Ash."

"Seriously you two, keep it down. You'll wake her up."

"She's been gone all night, I wonder what she was up to."

"I hope nothing you would have done. We don't need another Pat in this dorm."

"Another Pat is exactly what you need, Ash, apparently I am not convincing enough to get you out of your shell."

"I like my shell."

"Girls."

There were some footsteps, some rummaging and shuffling. Sophie sat up quietly and readied herself for a new start, a new morning. With her hand inches away from the curtain, the voice of Pat stopped her.

"I hope she's cool. Can you imagine what it would be like if we'd get a, I don't know, a Hermione?"

"Hermione's really nice."

"You think everybody's nice, Angel."

"Most people are, if you don't insult them at first sight, Pat," she replied.

"It could be worse. She could be a Luna", the girl called Ash said.

"_She_ is right in this room," the third girl reminded them, the one Pat had called Angel.

"And oversleeping. Angel, go wake her up."

"Pat, she'll hate you," Ash said.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're you."

Sophie heard a _thump_. Apparently Pat had thrown a pillow at Ash. Sophie chuckled and opened her curtains.

"Hi."

The three girls stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her.

First, Sophie's eyes fell onto the girl sitting upright in her bed, holding a pillow in her hands. She had a round face, big round eyes, and hair a mixture of dark blond and greyish brown that was all over the place.

Sophie's bed was right from the door to the stairs, and the pillow-girl's bed was the second one on the left side, standing across from hers in the circular room.

Sophie looked over to the blonde girl that stood in the middle of the room, Pat. The morning sun that fell through the slim, ceiling-high windows gave her a golden glow. She was tall, sporty and her short blonde hair, wet from the shower, reached to her chin.

Her last dorm mate was the girl owning the bed left from the door and Sophie immediately felt envious of her cheekbones. She was dark-skinned and had long, curly black hair.

While Ash resembled a mouse caught in a storm, pretty Pat was the representation of the word 'sexy', and Angel, or whatever her name, well, the name was a bit descriptive.

"Hi," the pretty dark-skinned girl said. "Angelina Johnson, you can call me Angie."

"Sophie."

Slowly Sophie's brain woke up and she remembered that Lee probably had wanted to marry her the day before on the train.

"Nice to meet you. That's Patricia Stimpson and that's Alicia Spinnet," Angie introduced.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Sophie said.

"Likewise," Alicia, former Ash, said.

"Where were you last night?"

"_Pat_," Angie said.

"Dumbledore's office. Stuff about my former school."

"Oh," was all the blonde had to say to that and sounded a bit disappointed.

Alicia shook her head and yawned. "I want to sleep", she said.

Pat threw another pillow at her.

"Hey! Angie, throw her out."

Angie just chuckled. "You'll have to get used to that."

"No problem."

"I saw you sitting with the boys yesterday. You're not bad looking, I thought you were out with them shagging somewhere."

"Pat!" Angie said, "what did we just say about being nice to people?"

"I am, just an observation."

"Well, wasn't shagging," Sophie said.

"See, she doesn't mind," Pat said and turned to her bed. "Oi!"

A pillow hit the back of her head and she turned around glaring, "who was that?"

Sophie pointed to Alicia, who looked at her shocked, and then pointed back to her.

Sophie smirked.

"I think you'll fit in just fine," Angie said with a laugh. "But you guys should hurry up or we'll miss breakfast."

* * *

><p>"That was a nice start. By the time we were ready and heading to the common room, I'd almost forgotten about what had happened the night before…"<p>

* * *

><p>"Aggrippas sake."<p>

"Who was she?"

"She once went out with Roger Davies."

"Of course you'd know that."

"It's my job to keep track of everybody's love life."

"Girls, shut up. This is serious."

They were all staring at the note on the board, white ink on a black piece of parchment, saying that Melissa Moloney had taken her own life the previous night, lessons were cancelled for the day, and there would be a memorial service before dinner.

"I can't believe this. Why would she do that?"

* * *

><p>"That was the question everyone asked. The first was, who was she, and the one after always started with why. I didn't see George or any of his dorm mates and we went down to the Great Hall for breakfast and answers. I ran into someone I knew there."<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey Cedric."<p>

Cedric Diggory, standing at the doorstep to the Great Hall with a few friends, turned and smiled when he saw who had called his name.

"Hey Sophie," he said.

His smile was one of politeness. His eyes looked troubled.

"I'm sorry about Melissa," she said.

"It's tragic. I don't know what happened, I can't believe what Professor Sprout said, that she took her own life. It's nothing like her."

"So you knew her well?"

"She was a private person, shy, you know. She had a few close friends. I wasn't one of them, but I knew her well enough. She was an incredibly nice soul. Her friends don't understand what happened, either. Apparently she left during the feast last night for the girl's toilets and didn't come back. She didn't say a word to them. I heard there was no note. I saw her parents talking to Professor Sprout and Dumbledore. It must be hell for them."

"Yeah, it must. I am sorry."

"Me, too."

She smiled and turned to leave when Cedric called her back.

"Hey Sophie, welcome to Hogwarts by the way. Usually it's a bit, well, usually it's not like this."

"Thanks," she said, hoping he was right. "See you later, Cedric."

* * *

><p>"How was it for you, to talk to him?"<p>

"Like talking to anyone, I don't know. He's nice and he was hurt. It's weird though, what he said about Melissa – it all makes less and less sense. But I think talking about it helped him. It helped some people, others had their own way of coping…"

* * *

><p>"Wait! I'm coming with you. If I loose you guys, I'll never find my way back."<p>

Sophie tore her eyes away from the Hufflepuff table and followed Angie, Alicia and Pat out of the Great Hall.

"Oh, there's Mary from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. She was friends with Melissa…," Angie said and was gone.

"How do you know Cedric?" Pat wanted to know.

"I met him over the summer, he lives in the area."

"But you two don't have anything going, do you?"

"He's a prefect," Alicia said rolling her eyes, "that means he's on Pat's list."

"What list?"

"So you don't have an interest in him, do you?" Pat said, ignoring Alicia. "Because I think I should go comfort him." And she, too, was gone.

"What list?"

"Maybe it's better if you don't know," Alicia said but Sophie had a vague idea.

"And don't worry, I wont leave your side until I brought you safely back to Gryffindor tower."

"Thanks," Sophie said and smiled. "How did you come by that nick name that Pat gave you, 'Ash'?"

Alicia shrugged. "Pat has nicknames for everyone. Enjoy the time you don't have one. She's even worse then the twins sometimes."

The twins. Speaking of, where in Merlin's name were the boys?

"You're friends with them, aren't you? I saw you sitting with George yesterday, you seemed to know each other well."

"He's a neighbour and Harry, Harry Potter, he lives with me and since Ron's his best friend we met."

"Yeah, I heard about that Sirius Black story in the papers. Oh, wait. That would be your dad, wouldn't it?"

"Yep. I have a brother, too."

"Oh yeah, the cute boy who was so happy to be in Gryffindor, right? Where's he?"

"I have no idea. I hope he's still in the common room."

The were walking past an armour of a knight that looked like someone had hit him with a bat over the head and Sophie tried to remember him as an aid to orientation, when someone called her name and caught up with them panting.

"Sophie, here you are. Do you mind if I kidnap you for a second?"

She saw Ron and Hermione walking off in the opposite direction.

"Hey Alicia."

"Hi Harry."

"Well, I will be lost without her, so only if you promise to walk me to the common room."

"Sure," Harry said and a grin spread over his face.

"Okay, see you later," Alicia said and left.

"So what's up?"

Harry waited until they were alone in the corridor, then he pulled out a worn piece of parchment.

"I'm here to make your life easier. Remember Fred and George saying that Sirius is some kind of legend?"

Sophie ignored the stich at the mention of George's name and nodded.

"Well, this is part of the reason why. Watch. I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said and tipped the parchment with the tip of his wand.

"Shut up," Sophie said and watched as tiny lines of black ink spread over it, forming corridors and staircases, rooms and even names.

"It's a map of Hogwarts," Harry said, "Sirius, my dad, Lupin, and their friend made it during their time here. It shows everyone in the castle and even secret passageways. The twins gave it to me last year and I think now it's your turn."

Sophie took the parchment from him and her eyes darted over the pages. It unfolded into several layers, even a bit of the Forbidden Forest was one there.

"We're here," Harry said, unfolded another corner and pointed to two neatly written names, saying _Harry Potter_ and _Sophie Black._

"It knows my nickname," she said.

"It knows a lot. If you're finished, just say 'Mischief managed' and it'll go blank again. So, do you mind if I head down to breakfast and leave you to find your way on your own?"

She grinned. "Off you go, Mr. Potter."

Harry chuckled and turned.

"Hey Harry," she called him back. "Terrible thing with Melissa."

"Yeah," he said. "Terrible. I didn't know her, but still. I suppose everyone wonders why."

Sophie nodded and Harry jumped onto a departing staircase and floated away.

She searched the parchment for five names. One of the boys had to show up on there somewhere.

She found her brother in the Great Hall. She must've missed him. He was sitting with Ginny Weasley and she watched as the little dots with the names 'Hermione' and 'Ron' joined them.

So back to the four boys of the sixth year dorm. She unfolded layer after layer and found them in a corner of the map, saying _the kitchens_.

She studied the first part of her way, tipped the map with her wand, said "Mischief managed", folded it, and tucked it into her pockets.

Hogwarts castle was like a maze, only in a maze you were presented with a limited amount of directions to choose from, whereas Hogwarts castle just set you in the middle of staircases that changed direction, floors that pretended to lead up but ended in the basement, secret passageways, hidden passageways that were essential to know of, rooms that shifted place and doors that would lock depending on the time of day, only open to the right password, or not at all for unknown reasons – at least to her.

So more than once, mostly when she hadn't checked the map for a while, Sophie skidded to an abrupt halt upon noticing she was mistaken once again, pivoted on her heels and took off in another direction.

And sometimes she'd turn a corner a bit too sharply and run through a ghost. She'd then freeze and shudder, since it felt like running through a wall of icy water.

The Marauder's Map knew it all. When she was sure that her way let trough a door, only to find a solid brick wall behind it, the Map told her to tip the brick with the broken left bottom corner, and the wall would dissolve.

And when Sophie, after an adventurous journey through the castle, stood in front of a painting of a fruit bowl, the Map revealed the entrance to the kitchens.

Out of breath and with an increased heartbeat she had finally reached her destination.

* * *

><p>"You probably have never been to the kitchens. The underground hall is as big as the Great Hall itself, probably, and it smells deliciously of the most amazing food, a bit like citrus and cookies, too, but the air's always fresh. The atmosphere is hard to describe. You know, you have a hundred house elves that reach to your hip bustling around you, bowing and smiling, and treating you like an old friend. It's like… anyway, I was in the kitchens and I found the four boys sitting on a table with butter beers between them, chatting and laughing, and I felt stupid for worrying."<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey, look who discovered the kitchens!" Lee called.<p>

"What are you doing here?" George asked.

Sophie showed him the erased map. "I came looking for you guys."

"Ah, Harry gave it to you? Nice. Welcome to the kitchens," Fred said and spread his arms welcoming.

"Can Dobby do something for you, Miss?"

A house elf looked at her with tennis ball sized eyes, big floppy ears, and an old pillow case he wore as shirt and trousers.

"Sophie, meet Dobby. Dobby, meet Sophie," Fred said.

"It is very nice to meet you, Miss, Dobby has only heard good about you."

The elf smiled shyly.

"No you can't keep him," George said beside her. He had jumped down from the table on which the boys had sat and joined her.

Sophie grinned. "That's a misfortune."

The house elf chuckled. "Dobby likes this girl."

"Butter beer?" George asked.

"I just had breakfast," Sophie said.

"Did you sleep in?"

"What no. Oh." She took a look at her watch. "I suppose it took my longer to find you than I thought. But still, thanks no."

Dobby bowed and then he was unsure whether to leave or not.

"Wait a second, Dobby." George said, before he turned to Sophie. "How are you?"

"How are you?"

"It's considered impolite to answer a question with a question."

"I'm good, and you?"

"Perfect."

"Mh."

"I was thinking," George said. "You really had a bad start. Why don't you let Dobby here show you around the kitchens and then we'll show you the castle, so you get to know how Hogwarts really is."

"Sounds good, though I had my share of weird corridors and stairs and all."

"It gets better when you're used to it," George said with a smile. "So deal?"

"Deal."

Dobby reached for her hand and led her away from the boys.

Smiling she followed the elf and a look over her shoulder showed her a bundled together group of sixth years planning.

"So every corner of this hall is its own kitchen?"

"Yes, Miss. There are twenty-three kitchens in this hall and every elf can work in every kitchen, but can stay in one kitchen as long as he wants, too. Dobby works in the juice kitchen at the moment. Does Miss want to see the juice kitchen?"

"Sure, I'd love to."

Dobby beamed and led her deeper into the hall. Busy elves bustled around them, but each of them smiled or even bowed at her as they went past. The single kitchens were in no evident order. The worktops were always arranged in a U-form and every elf besides Dobby wore the same clothing, a working suit with the Hogwarts emblem imprinted over the heart.

"Why aren't you wearing a uniform, Dobby?"

"Dobby has a uniform, Miss, but Dobby doesn't want to make it dirty."

It was only now that she noticed Dobby wearing a black sock on his foot.

"Did you lose a sock?"

"This is the sock Harry Potter has given Dobby so he was free of the Malfoys."

"Malfoy, yeah I heard about him. I guess it wasn't too nice there, hu?"

"Oh" Dobby's eyes grew big. "Dobby still feels he shouldn't talk badly about his old master, Miss, even though he was…"

"A big old pain in the arse? You didn't say it, I did." She winked and Dobby smiled.

"Socks are Dobby's favourite things to wear."

* * *

><p>"He was adorable. After my talk with Dobby the boys kidnapped me. Kenny went to show me the library, the other three said they would meet us later. Kenny told me the librarian had banned them the previous year for attempting to set of fireworks in the potions section. So I went there with Kenny and he also showed me a less known section of famous muggle literature. I don't know how he did it, because I thought he had always been beside me, but when I pulled out the collected works of Shakespeare – which he wanted me to open, I found a piece of parchment."<p>

* * *

><p>"Find us where the dragons hide, pumpkins grow and hint- it lies outside," she read. "What's this?"<p>

"Welcome to your Marauder tour," Kenny said.

"Wow, that smile almost looked mischievously," Sophie said.

"Yeah, they are a bad influence," the boy with the short brown hair and badge on his chest said chuckling. "So any idea what the clue means?"

"There are no dragons at Hogwarts, but Harry once said something about dragons and Hagrid. So, Hagrid?"

Kenny nodded. "He lives on the grounds in his hut. Come on then, Sophie Black, time to catch your next clue."

She put the book back and followed him out the library.

"You've guessed correctly by the way that I'm not one of the three twins."

"What?"

"You know, Lee is their third twin, that's what everybody says. I occasionally get included in their doings but I'm not the typical rule breaker."

She followed him down some stairs and then left through a curtain. She momentarily lost sight of him but then Kenny looked back around a corner.

"This way."

When she had caught up he continued.

"My father runs a company that makes and sells cauldrons and after school I'll enter into the business. So instead of rule break there's the prefect post to look forward to for me," he said.

"Yeah, can you explain that again? What exactly is the deal with prefects and aren't you already one?"

She pointed to the badge he wore with the letters '_J.P._'.

"Well, not quite. I'm junior prefect. In fifth and sixth year there is one junior prefect in every house for each year. So I'm junior prefect for Gryffindor's sixth year and in fifth year it's Katie. In seventh and eight year there's two per year and so there are the four prefects of Gryffindor, always two boys and two girls. And in year nine there's the head boy and head girl. But there's only ever one head boy and one head girl of all houses combined."

"Okay. So how did you become junior prefect?"

"I was chosen by Dumbledore. I don't really know how they decide. Maybe it's grades, but I don't think it depends solely on those. And I think your house teacher has to recommend you to Dumbledore. If you're chosen, you get the badge with your school supply letter over summer. Alright, now you know where we are, right?"

She did, they were back in the Entrance Hall. There were the wooden doors in golden frame that lead to the Great Hall across from them and the even bigger gates of oak in an iron frame on the left.

Those stood both open and sunlight flooded through the doors into the Entrance Hall and onto the Grand Marble Staircase behind them.

Sophie was almost blended by the sheer intensity of colour. Kenny stepped out onto the grounds and Sophie had to hold and stare for a moment, because what she had seen on the Astronomy tower the night before had been the grand scale of the lands, now and for the first time she saw their breathtaking beauty.

The Australian landscape was nothing in comparison, but again, they had never really seen a lot of the supposedly present greatness of it.

Sophie had never seen greener grass, nor a bluer sky or a brighter sun. When wind playfully lifted strands of her hair from her shoulders, her eyelids fell close and she breathed in the air of Hogwarts' grounds.

The castle was one thing. Huge, old, mysterious and confusing, but the grounds were in no way second to it.

When she opened her eyes and smiled at the world she noticed Kenny watching her.

"Nice, huh?"

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?"

"Sometimes I forget," he said smiling at her. "This way to Hagrid's"

They walked over the sloping lawn. The grass stood in such a perfect order it almost didn't look natural. And maybe it wasn't. This was a place where magic reigned after all.

Since lessons were cancelled that day lots of students enjoyed the autumn sun laying on their backs, reading, chatting, or dozing off.

Kenny led her down serpentines into a kind of a valley and she saw the brick hut of Hagrid's in front of the autumn coloured forest, and the owner himself, kneeling in his pumpkin patch, tending to his plants.

"Hey Hagrid!" Kenny called when they were close enough.

Hagrid turned and smiled. Even kneeling they had to look up to him.

"I was won'dring when you two'd show up", Hagrid said.

He had a big black beard and long black hair and eyes shining like black beetles in the sun.

"Hagrid, meet Sophie Black, Sophie, meet Hagrid."

"It's nice ter meet you, hadn't had the chance to talk really, yesterday, had we," Hagrid said. "Your brother was down here with the little Weasley half an hour ago. He's just like his dad was, always a handful."

Sophie grinned. "Yeah, Dustin can be a wild spirit."

"I hope you don't have a bad picture of Hogwarts, now, after that terrible thing with Melissa."

"That's why she's getting the Marauder's Tour to Hogwarts now," Kenny said. "Got a clue for us, don't you Hagrid?"

Hagrid nodded to his hut and his beard curved into a smile. "Inside. But careful when you open that door, I banned Fang inside today so he doesn't ruin my tomatoes. He'll probably be a little restless."

"Fang is Hagrid's dog. Be warned, Fang is… ah, just see for yourself."

At the door Kenny stepped back. "Go on, open it."

Sophie looked at him and then pulled the door open. Before she could even blink, something big and grey had thrown her backwards down the three steps leading to the front door and she landed in the grass, something heavy on top of her, licking her face.

She heard Kenny's laughter, while she tried to get Hagrid's dog to get off. Just like Hagrid, Fang wasn't normal size. Maybe it was his breed, but he still seemed a little gigantic. When she had freed herself and commanded him to sit, Fang still reached her shoulders.

"Urgh. _Lautus_," she said and cleaned the dog salvia off her. "Thanks for the warning, Kenny. Come, Fang, in with you. Hagrid said you ruined his tomatoes."

Fang whined but followed them inside.

"So, dog," Sophie said looking around, "where's my clue, huh?"

Fang panted happily, his great black eyes fixed onto her. "Helpful you are," she said and patted his head. "Kenny?"

"Take a look around," he said with a laugh.

Hagrid's hut was small and cramped. At the wall to the left was a bench, Fang's basket, and dried leaves, herbs, and flowers hung from the walls and ceiling. To the right was the kitchen, a small round table, well, compared to the gigantic chair it was small. A door was on the opposite side, but Sophie found her hint rather quickly.

"Wow, I really didn't see you. You seem to be too small to be noticeable in here."

Fred laughed. "Seems that way. I'm here to take you on the next part of your tour and this is your hint: It tried to bring you something red and gold this morning but it couldn't find you. Dustin recognized it and took it from it."

"What?"

"Well, what's red and gold?"

"Gryffindor."

"And what do you still need that has Gryffindor colours?"

"My jumper."

"And what brings your jumper?"

"An owl."

"10 Points for you my dear, though it doesn't mean anything if I say it."

"What?"

"The house hour glasses, didn't you see them in the Great Hall? When we do good, teachers or prefects can award house points and the house with the most points wins the house cup at the end of the year."

"Is there something like a guide to Hogwarts?" Sophie said with a groan, "something where I can read all that, so I don't feel super stupid all the time?"

"We are your guides, and you and me, were heading to the Owlery now."

They said goodbye to Fang and left him in the hut.

"Bye Hagrid!"

"Bye Kenneth, Fred, Soffi."

He waved his enormous hand and they headed off. When they had left the valley in which Hagrid lived, Kenny left them and headed to the main entrance, while Fred and Sophie walked off in another direction.

"So, how was your first night here?"

"The beds are insane, it feels like sleeping in clouds of puffy softness."

Fred laughed. "Clouds of puffy softness? And here I was thinking you were tough."

She pinched his arm and he winced but grinned.

"Dorm mates alright?"

"I guess so. Haven't got them all figured out yet, but the first impression was quite alright."

"Yeah, our girls are usually easy to hang with. Angelina is on the team, too, you know, as Chaser. Alicia is the shy one of the pack and Pat, well – you tell me," he said with a grin.

"I heard there was some sort of list?"

Fred smirked. "Sure. The famous list, every boy wishes to read his name on."

"What's the deal with that?"

"Oh you know, it's girl stuff. _I_ shouldn't explain."

Sophie narrowed his eyes at him. "Okay, just tell me if you're on it or not, then."

She smirked when he looked at her chuckling.

"I am not, neither is George, in case you were wondering."

His wink irritated her a bit, but she let it slide when he redirected her attention to the building in front of them.

They had walked along the Entrance Hall and the main building with the marble staircase complex to the West Tower.

Spiral stairs on the outside of the Tower led them inside onto the first floor, then they climbed the stairs inside the Tower until they reached the last floor, which was again, only accessible from an outside staircase.

On the stairs Sophie stopped and looked down onto the tiny hut of Hagrid and the sea of the rainbow coloured tree tops.

"It's like another floor," Fred said when they had reached the Owlery, "only the panes of the windows are gone so the owls can come and go whenever they please. And, of course, you can't see the floor."

It was covered with hay, owl dumpings and bones of rats and mice.

A little, excitedly twittering owl fluttered onto her shoulder.

"Oh hi, Flecks. Nice home you have here." Sophie stroked his feathers and noted a note tied to its foot.

"Next hint?" She asked Fred.

"Yip."

She unfolded the roll and read, or rather tried to read, the erratically scribbled handwriting.

"Who wrote that?"

"If you can't read it, it was Lee."

"Uhm, something about, oh lunch. And then the lake?"

"Yup, these are our next two stops. So for lunch we go…?"

"…back to the entrance hall."

Fred clapped his hands. "Superb, you're already finding your way."

* * *

><p>"Lunch with Fred was nice. Dustin and Harry joined us. I don't know if you were there, but I never had lunch in that kind of atmosphere. Even though all that happened, it didn't feel depressed. Normally with a lot of people cramped up eating, it's silent and hurried and uncomfortable. Hogwarts really just proves all my experiences wrong."<p>

* * *

><p>"So, got a better look on the castle now?"<p>

"Uhu. You know you didn't have to do this, though?"

"Please, it's what we live for. Well, kinda. Besides, it's fun to see you seeing all that for the first time. I suppose we tend to forget what we have here."

Fred walked her past the West Tower along the greenhouses.

"Greenhouse eight is like a jungle. Wear summer clothing if you ever have to go in there, otherwise the hot moist air will be killing you."

Next he showed her the two Bell Towers that framed the south-west entrance to the castle and they walked down the lawn to where the Forbidden Forest and the Great Lake met.

"It's beautiful."

The sun had travelled from east to south and shimmered above the surface of the lake.

"It's cold though. On warm September days it may be okay, but usually you really only can swim in the lake after finals, shortly before summer holidays, otherwise you freeze your, er, hands off."

"Right."

"So this is the herbology and transfiguration side of the castle," Fred said. "We'll go inside again now. The tower next to the right Bell Tower is the South Tower, behind that one you can see the tip of the Dark Tower. That's were our dear Minister interrogated your dad last year."

Trying to add to the map in her head Sophie followed him back inside.

"This part of the castle is called the Long Gallery. The tower above is the Central Tower but that's not where we want to go. We'll go right into the Transfiguration Courtyard."

Alright, west side, no south side of the castle, Bell Towers, Long Gallery and Courtyard. Sophie frowned trying to force herself to learn all the names and places, when somebody called their names.

"Hey Sophie, Fred!"

They stepped out to a rectangular courtyard. Students lay there, too, since the ground in the middle was not of stone but a neatly trimmed lawn. Some gargoyle statues caught her eye before she met two new faces.

The two boys waving turned out to be Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, two boys from Harry's dorm.

Dean was a good head taller than her and Fred, dark-skinned with a friendly face and dimples. Seamus was a little shorter than her, Irish, judging by the accent, with sandy hair, a messy dishevelled uniform and a mischievous twinkle in his grey-green eyes.

"Want to play a round of Gobstone?"

"Sorry, we're touring the castle," Fred said.

"That's my cue," and suddenly Lee appeared behind them.

"Hey So, how's the tour going?"

"Hogwarts is big," she said and the boys grinned.

"That is true, you know. I'll take the lead from here and walk you through the Astronomy Tower, that's the big one right in front of you, to the Training Grounds."

* * *

><p>"Though we were interrupted by the arriving of an owl."<p>

* * *

><p>"School owl," Fred said.<p>

The brown owl landed on Lee's shoulder and extended her leg in Sophie's direction.

"For me? Is that part of your tour?"

"Not as far as I'm informed."

"Dear Ms. Black, you were given an appointment today at 5 pm in room 423, South Wing. Please make sure to make the appointment. Professor McGonagall, house teacher," Sophie read. "That's in an hour and a half. What's room 423 for?"

"It's not a classroom as far as I know," Fred said and took a look at the parchment.

"It's not far from here, we'll walk you there," Lee said.

"Well, that kind of messes up our plan, but maybe George can do his part after whatever that appointment is. Sounds mysterious, though."

"It's got probably something to do with Melissa's suicide," Lee said.

That made sense. McGonagall did say that Dumbledore would want to have a word.

"Where's Dumbledore's Office?"

"Not in the south wing," Fred said. "It's on the fifth floor of the Grand Staircase Tower, north from here."

"How many towers has this castle?"

"A lot", was all Fred said.

Sophie groaned.

"Well, come on now. We'll show you the Training Grounds."

* * *

><p>"We stayed in that area till quarter to five, then they brought me up here."<p>

* * *

><p>"See you later, Sophie!"<p>

"Just find us on the map, have fun."

Fred and Lee turned and were gone. It was five to five. Sophie raised her hand to knock at the door, when it suddenly opened and she found herself face to face with George.

"Hey, you got an owl, too? I could have guessed."

He closed the door behind him.

"What's this about?"

"Psychologist. She's treating the Hufflepuff year Melissa was in and her evening appointments today were reserved for us." He rolled his eyes. "Half as bad. She's not too unfriendly, just, you know, a psychologist."

Sophie nodded. "Is this mandatory?"

George grinned. "It'll be over before you know it, don't worry. I can come get you in an hour if you want to."

"An _hour_?"

"Do you want to?"

Sophie sighed. "Well, I still have your part of the tour to look forward to, don't I?"

"Yes, you do." He grinned.

"Well, then. See you in an hour, Weasley."

He chuckled and she opened the door.

* * *

><p>"So that's the story."<p>

The psychologist, whose name was Mrs. Marilyn Donnerham, smiled at her over her leather bound clip board.

"It sounds like you had a good day. Are you excited about the last past of your tour?"

Sophie shrugged. "It's always fun hanging out with George, so yeah, it'll be good."

"He told me that you were very collected after Melissa's passing last night."

"Isn't that patience-psychologist confidentiality agreement or something?"

"No." She smiled.

"Mh. Well, it's…," Sophie hesitated. "I guess he just read me wrong. Who wouldn't be troubled if one saw something like that."

"Maybe someone who's seen alike."

"Maybe, but sill."

Sophie shrugged and looked Mrs. Donnerham in the eye. She knew what George had meant. She wasn't unfriendly, she actually would have been almost pleasant company, if not for her occupation.

"Sophie, what are you most proud of in this life?"

Mrs. Donnerham crossed her long legs and leaned forward on her chair. Sophie observed a fly crawl over the fruit bowl on the small table between them.

"Uhm. I suppose that we made it out alive."

"Out of your life in Australia?"

"Yep."

"Do you think you turned out like your parents expected?"

Mrs. Donnerham watched her watching her hands.

"I don't know. Maybe. But I think nothing turned out like my parents expected."

Sophie looked up at her, straight up, and then gave a half-hearted shrug.

"What is the worst thing that happened in your life?"

"My mum was murdered after my father was thrown into prison innocently," she said looking over at the fireplace to their left.

The office was small. Behind Mrs. Donnerham was her work desk. To their right some ankle high book shelves were stapled.

"What did you learn from that?"

"Life isn't fair." Sophie said still looking around.

"What is the most important thing in your life?"

"My brother."

Mrs. Donnerham waited until Sophie looked at her again.

"How do you feel about your life right now?"

"Right now? I think, right now, it's pretty good."

Mrs. Donnerham stood up and put her clipboard on her chair. Unfortunately, Sophie could not make out any of the scribbling with a quick glance.

"Professor Dumbledore send an owl to your father, as well as to George's parents to inform them about what you've witnessed. His mother was here in his session and I invited your father for a visit, too. If it's okay with you, I would like to send him massage that he can come now."

"Yeah okay. He doesn't have to, though."

"He will want to."

"Yeah, I know that."

Mrs. Donnerham smiled at her and threw a hand of yellow powder in her fire place. The flames turned turquoise and she waited beside it.

"Sophie, I know you've had a difficult past. I would like to speak to you again, in a month or so, to see how you settled in."

Sophie chewed on her cheek. Seeing a psychologist was not really something she would get excited about.

"This is a request, not an order. You can say no."

On the other hand, she knew that she was sitting right where she was, right then, because of people worrying. And worried people would always try again.

"Nah, it's fine. I guess this request comes from Dumbledore, or was it Sirius? It's okay. I mean, we're talking about one visit, right?"

Before Mrs. Donnerham could answer the flames turned green and Sirius appeared in the fire place.

"Mrs. Donnerham."

He shook her hand and then walked over to his daughter. Sophie had risen from her cushioned chair.

"Oh So, first day and… trouble always finds you."

"Couldn't have phrased that better myself", Sophie said grinning.

"Come here", Sirius said with a chuckle and hugged her.

"Are you okay, Sweetie?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming… _dad_."

The hour was up and Sophie was released. When she opened the door a freckled face with a familiar grin greeted her.

"What's that?" She pointed to a woven basket on his arm.

"Dinner," George said with a shrug of his shoulders. He tilted his head, stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned at her.

Sophie narrowed her eyes at him. "Where are we going?"

On the other side of the door, Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "You send them to Hogwarts and they witness a suicide on the first day. I'd really like to see a parenting book about what to do when everything always just goes wrong."

Mrs. Donnerham smiled. "She's a strong character, I have a feeling that she'll find a way to deal with it."

"Yeah, I just wish she wouldn't have to." He looked at the psychologist. "Well, I should get going. It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise, Mr. Black."

When Sirius had stepped into the fire place and was about to leave, Mrs. Donnerham said, "and you should not believe everything that's written in parenting books, Mr. Black."

He titled his head and grinned in the way that since his first year at Hogwarts had always been reserved for girls only.

"Where else would I find my sources, Mrs. Donnerham?"

She smiled. "You could ways ask a psychologist."

A floor beneath, Mrs. Black was interrogation a grinning Weasley.

"Drop it," George said, "I won't tell you till we're there."

"Come on."

"If you had any sense of direction, you could figure it out."

She slapped his shoulder and pretended to pout. "I do have a sense of direction."

George raised an eyebrow.

"I am just a little blurry about our current location."

He chuckled.

"But I know that we're somewhere south."

"Well that's an accomplishment, considering we're in the south wing."

She stuck her tongue out to him and he laughed.

"Just out the door here. Know where we are?"

"Training Grounds," she said.

She had just spent over an hour there with Fred and Lee after all. The evening sun painted the courtyard in golden light and some great old stone statures looked like there were moving. When she looked again, however, she wasn't sure anymore.

"Oh so very good," George praised mockingly and she punched his shoulder again. "Well, Ms. Impatient, we will go through those gates, called the Quidditch Gate, and they lead down to the Quidditch pitch where our brooms await us for an evening tour around Hogwarts Castle. And after that we'll try Dobby's selection," he waved the basket, "on the stands, watching the sun set behind the castle."

Sophie looked at him, at the boy that could turn every evening into an adventure. He stood there, with flaming hair and golden freckles, and grinned at her, proudly presenting the master plan.

She mirrored his grin.

"You're insane."

"Nah," he said, "I'm just fun."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked it, if so – please Read &amp; Review! <strong>

**The sunset-picnic will start off Chapter 6. **

**Happy New Year 2015! **

**Citty**


	6. Claws of the Evil Forces

**Big thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Claws of the Evil Forces<p>

Drum. Drum. Drum.

How for the love of magic was anyone supposed to concentrate with that constant background noise?

Drum. Drum. Drum.

Sophie sighed.

Drum. Drum, drum. Drum, drum.

She let her quill fall onto the parchment, turned to the window, and glared at the raindrops hitting against it.

Stupid weather. As if her mood wasn't sufficient enough to make this evening a drag.

Sophie glanced at her watch. The twins would be in detention for another hour. She put her elbows onto the table and let her chin rest on her knuckles.

The common room was quiet. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat by the fire talking, Dean and Seamus sat on a table on the other side, playing chess. Kenny was at a prefect meeting. Pat was doing something linked to that mysterious list Alicia had spoken of, Alicia had gone to the library with Angie, and Lee was absent from the world, probably trying to get the twins out of detention or himself in.

And across from her sat her brother, looking at her with his big brown eyes like a deer.

"You're bored," he observed.

"Am not," Sophie said. "I don't get bored."

"I've never seen you bored."

"I told you I am not bored. I don't get bored," she repeated, chin still on her knuckles, as her eyes lazily surveyed the common room.

The scarlet tapestries hung from the walls, the fire crackled unbothered in the fire place, and the squishy armchairs stood there, indifferent to her … inoccupation.

"I don't have any homework," Dustin said.

"You can have mine." She pushed the parchment to his side of the table.

"I don't know anything about human transfiguration through potions of higher grades."

"Neither do I", Sophie said absently. A smile tucked at the corner of her lips as she watched a mop of drenched dreadlocks enter the common room. Lee spotted her and walked over.

"Hey you two."

"Where have you been?"

"Hiding firecrackers under the Rotunus plants the Slytherins are going to repot in their Herbology class tomorrow. They're set to go off at touch."

"Cool."

"Thanks for being a bad influence on my brother."

Lee shrugged. "Someone has to do it." He shook his arm out of one sleeve of his cloak and wringed it out. "That's some September weather out there."

"Thanks for getting my shoes wet."

"You're in a good mood," he said and then pressed his dripping sleeve to her neck.

"Arr. That is not helping!"

Lee chuckled. "Doing Gonny's essay?" He nodded to the parchment in Dustin's hands.

"Nope."

"Oh come on," Lee said, "how can I cheer you up?"

"Can you fast-forward the evening about an hour?"

"Ah, I see where the Hippogriffs are galloping. Rise from your chair, Lady Sophie, we will free our brothers from the claws of the evil forces."

Dustin chuckled. "Good description."

"Our dear potion master will not know what hit him."

Sophie grinned and stood. "Tell me your plan."

Lee raised an eyebrow at her. "What plan? We never have a plan. Plans don't work out. The real art is to improvise. Are you coming or what?" He looked at Dustin.

"I'm coming, too?" The elven year old said, eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"Course you are. We are going to teach our teacher a lesson. How dare he screw up your sister's date."

Dustin laughed and sprang off his chair, ready for mischief.

Sophie looked at Lee who looked at her. She _could_ object to him calling the previous night a date. She _could_…

* * *

><p>Twenty-six hours earlier<p>

"This you call a Quidditch pitch? It's a stadium, not a pitch. I have flown over lawns that have been called a pitch. This isn't a pitch, this is… oh stop laughing."

George stopped, but grinned. "It's just so cute when you're doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Swooning."

Sophie frowned. "I'm not swooning. I don't swoon."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I – shut up."

He chuckled and pointed to metal doors. "We'll have to climb over them."

"Uhm, no?"

"Uhm, yes. The changing rooms are on the other side and my broom is in there."

"Well, Mr. Weasley, you see, this makes _you_ having to climb the fence. I, for one, can just accio my broom from the castle."

"That's no fun."

"That," she pointed to the entrance to the stadium, "has pointy tops that look like arrows. I can hardly explain to S-, to my dad that he needs to send my new robes after my first day, because you made me climb the fence to the Quidditch pitch."

"See, you called it a pitch."

She shot him a look.

"Alright, alright. Accio your broom, lazy. I'll be right back."

"Why don't you accio your broom?"

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, half my locker's content would probably come flying out with it. It's not the, uhm, tidiest."

"I see."

Sophie crossed her arms with a grin and looked at him expectantly.

George rolled up his sleeves, puffed his chest and gave her a curt nod, before taking a run-up at the fence, placing his hands and feet between bars and elegantly jumping the man-high doors.

On the other side he grinned a loop-sided grin, turned on his heels, and jogged away.

Chuckling and impressed, though she would never admit to it, Sophie summoned her Firebolt.

They left the basket behind a bush by the entrance to the stadium and began their tour around the castle.

"If you want to, we can go to the memorial service. It's about to start."

"I don't have to go, but if you want to, we can," she said.

"I don't really want to, to be honest," George said, hovering in the air beside her, looking in the direction of the Great Hall. "I don't know. Not going is disrespectful, isn't it?"

Sophie shrugged. "A friend of mine died and I didn't go to his funeral, either. I think you have to decide for yourself. If you pay that person respect your own way, I don't think anyone can call you disrespectful for that."

"Was it a good friend?" George looked at her but Sophie wasn't meeting his eye.

"He was he. I don't know if we were friends. I know he didn't have any so we were something like it, closest to it, I suppose. It's hard to say."

She looked towards the castle with its many towers.

"So, where's our tour going?"

"How about we just round it? I don't think you've seen the Viaduct Bridge, or the Sundial Garden, Clock Tower – Whomping Willow? No? Well, then we'll fly to the north side first. It's the hilly side of the castle."

He led the way and she followed. She loved the way the evening air soothed her entire being. They flew above the shimmering surface of the lake and George pointed to Gryffindor Tower.

Somewhere in there Dustin would sit with Harry.

Hogwarts descended to something like a cliff on the north side. George showed her the boat house, where the first years were shipped to on their first day and the long Viaduct that bridged the rocky, steep hillside and let to the north grounds.

Then there was the Clock Tower and its courtyard, and the Wooden Bridge that led to the Stone Circle with the sundial.

When he told her in which direction they had to go to see the Whomping Willow, he noticed something.

"Are you missing a sock?" he asked, pointing to her ankle.

"Dobby's favourite clothing", Sophie said with a shrug and a smile.

George grinned.

"The Whomping Willow probably has the most interesting story, but be careful not to come too close. It's an old and vicious tree and its branches will smash you with the upmost delight." They stopped mid-air and watched the peacefully slumbering tree. "Lupin went through a hidden passageway at the roots every month on full moon during his time at Hogwarts. It leads to to a house in Hogsmeade village, the Shrieking Shack. Guess where the name comes from?"

At the end of their tour they raced each other back to the stadium. George, mean as he was, sped off in the wrong direction first, curious whether Sophie would realize the mistake.

She didn't, and his shoulder was punched for it later, after she had beaten him to the Quidditch pitch.

"Promise me something? Try out for the team, will you?"

He looked at her like he always looked at her and didn't leave her a real choice to say no. Not that she had wanted to anyway.

"Promise." Sophie said. "Promise me something, too? Never mock my sense of direction again."

He laughed. "I'll try but it's really hard not to. Ouch."

They got their food basket and flew over the fence to the stands. The pitch was enormous. Sixteen towers surrounded it, where spectators lucky enough to get hold of a seat would watch the game. The rows in between were where the majority of the crowd would sit and watch.

Sitting side by side on one of the upper ranks, George put the basket down between them.

"Butter beer," he said, took two bottles out, and knocked the caps off on the back rest of the seat in front of him. He handed her one. "To Melissa", he said and they clinked bottles. Then he explored the other contents.

"Oh, Dobby packed – what is this?"

He held something up that looked like a burrito crossbaked with a pancake and pizza. And it held pasta, too.

"You taste it first," Sophie said.

"I knew, you'd say that…" George took a bite cautiously and chewed in slow-motion. But as everything that originated from Hogwarts' kitchens, that special creation tasted delicious as well. "It's good, try."

He handed her the second one and they ate in silence for a bit. Sophie enjoyed the view around the stadium and wondered what playing in it would be like.

"So, how is Hogwarts?" George asked.

"The company is nice."

From the corner of her eye she saw him looking at her sideways and smiled.

"A compliment, that's unexpected."

She turned to him and watched a slow smile creep onto his face.

"As if."

Grinning, she took another sip from her butter beer.

"Okay, apart from the exceptionally awesome company, what else?"

"I didn't say _that_."

"I will pretend you did."

"Well, apart from the company," she said smiling, "the castle is quite okay."

"Quite okay?"

She looked at him. "You were the one saying I was swooning," she said. "And I do not swoon."

"And you definitely don't bear grudges, don't hit me," he said leaning away and stroking his shoulder. "I am already bruised."

She chuckled. "Wimp."

"Uh, words can hurt, too, you know."

"Aww, so sorry," she said.

Both had an equally large grin plastered on their faces as she patted his shoulder.

"That's nicer," he said and she rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "What do you think of Hagrid?" he then asked.

"He's," she tipped her nose with her index finger, "really sweet in an enormous way."

"What did you just do?"

"Hm?"

"With you finger and you nose."

"Oh. Sometimes I do that when I think."

"You tip your nose when you think? That's going to look funny in classes."

"Well, not when I think like that. When I think and emphasise."

"You're a funny person."

"_You_ just put me up to my second rule break on my second evening here."

"No, I didn't. It's still time till curfew."

"I meant breaking into the stadium."

"Oh yeah, that."

They smiled and drank, both staring ahead onto the pitch.

Sophie credited the butter beer for the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. The shadows of the towers around the stadium grew longer as they sat and ate and the golden glow of the evening sun soon took up a hint of red. They had sat in comfortable silence for a while and when she looked at him, and his hair looked as if it was one fire.

He caught her looking at him and smiled. She smiled, too, and took another sip.

"You know, this is nice," he said, leaning back in the seat, squaring an ankle over one knee.

"It is," she agreed. "It's peaceful… I like peaceful."

Her eyes dropped close and she enjoyed the feeling of the wind against her skin.

George watched her relaxed features and her chestnut brown hair reflecting the last dying beams of the sun.

When she opened her eyes, she looked at him and his smile. She pressed her lips together, moistening them with the tip of her tongue and took up her bottle of butter beer. Her cheeks were almost hurting from smiling too much.

"I'm glad you're in Gryffindor," George said.

"Me, too." She said looking at him.

"Nice company?"

She grinned. "Exactly."

"We still have dessert," George said and took out two delicious looking blueberry muffins. As he handed her one, their fingers touched and for longer than it would have been necessary. Their eyes met.

"Oi, you two!"

Sophie and George looked up, still holding the muffin between them. Fred flew over their heads, made a semicircle, and landed behind his brother. George pulled back his hand and looked at his twin.

"What's up?"

"Didn't you bother to check the map every once in a while? Snape's on his way."

"Oh shit. Thanks for the – hey, how did you know?"

"Hurry up," Fred said. "Let's fly out of here, before he notices-"

"That's detention," they heard a voice call from the bottom of the pitch.

"Duck," George said and pushed Sophie from her chair.

"I could have guessed," the voice was coming nearer and she observed Fred and George climb down a row. A moment's silence an then…

"Mr. and Mr. Weasley, you are aware that the pitch is closed?"

Now the voice was very near and Sophie held her breath.

"Yes, sir," Fred and George answered.

"That must be tradition, getting detention on your first day. Tomorrow, 7.30 pm, potions classroom." The teacher said, who, Sophie guessed, was the Potions professor Snape. "Get down, put your brooms where they belong, and head back to the castle," he barked. "Now."

She heard them walk away. Laying on the dirty wooden floor of the ranks she gazed up into the night sky. The sun had gone down and stars twinkled down to her. She wondered if the teacher had left. Lucky for her it had been dark enough that he hadn't been able to make out more than two shadowy figures before George had pushed her to the ground. They needn't have taken the fall, though. She was more than able to face consequences herself. But George would have felt guilty again, just like the evening before, so maybe it was better this way.

With folded hands she lay on the ground between seats and stared up into the sky. Something inside her dreaded that Snape was still there, waiting for her to stick out her head to scold her and put her in detention, too. She wiggled her toes. Well, she couldn't stay there all night.

Then an idea struck her and as silently as she could she pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she whispered tipping it with her wand.

Her eyes found the Transfiguration Courtyard and she watched three little dots, the twins and Snape, enter the Castle. She moved down from it to the pitch, unfolding another layer, and was surprised to see another dot in close proximity to hers, named _Lee Jordan_.

She erased the map, put it back into her cloak and heaved herself up. Her head hurt from the hard ground.

"_Evanesco_," she said tipping the basket and it vanished. Then she regretted not having taken out the blueberry muffin first.

Sophie picked up her broom and hurried down the ranks to the front entrance. And there he was, waiting for her.

"What took you so long?"

"I wasn't sure whether Snape had left."

"They have," Lee said.

"Yeah I know, saw it on the map."

She flew over the fence and landed beside him.

"They needn't have taken the blame."

"That's the kind of people they are," Lee said.

"Still. And – what are you doing here?"

"I'm accompanying you back to the castle, since George is otherwise occupied."

"How did you know Snape was on his way here?"

"So, had a nice evening?" Lee spoke over her words, pretending to haven't had heard.

"Yep. But George's seems to suck at endings."

Lee laughed and made a mental note to quote her in their dorm later. "Yeah, I suppose he does," he said chuckling.

"So were you at the memorial service?"

"Uhm hu," Lee said. "So, er, first lessons tomorrow. Schedules are always handed out at breakfast, what classes did you take? I dropped…"

* * *

><p>Ten hours earlier<p>

"Pat, you're a slut."

"Am not," she said.

"Are to."

"Not listening to your sermon, Ash."

"Tell her."

"I'm not getting mixed up in this," Angie said.

Alicia looked to Sophie.

"I don't have any idea what you two are talking about."

"Little wallflower here is just a bit jealous, that's all," Pat said.

"Pha, jealous. Of what? Having no principles?"

"Girls," Angie said unenthused. She walked ahead and Sophie fell into step beside her while the other two followed them bickering.

"I heard we'll get our time tables at breakfast," Sophie said.

"Yeah, excited for your first lessons?"

"Moderately."

Angie shook her head. "You know, showing excitement is not a sign of weakness."

"No, it's a sign of swooning and I do not swoon."

"Swoon?" Angie laughed. "I don't know. I've never heard you swoon, though I'd like to see it."

Sophie smiled at the thought of her last conversation on the topic. "Don't hold your breath," she said. "I think I'm done swooning for a while."

At breakfast they met the twins and Kenny.

Professor McGonagall, tall, controlled, and with a strict look through her glasses, walked down the Gryffindor table, handed students their time tables, and occasionally discussed subject choices.

"Mr. Towler", she said when she'd reached their little group of seven. "Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Johnson", she handed one after another their schedules, "I have spoken to Mr. Wood, the Quidditch try-outs will be held next week. Ms. Black, welcome to Hogwarts once again, if you have any trouble with your schedule, the door to my office is open. Ms. Spinnet, Ms. Stimpson. Where is Mr. Jordan? Well, hand him this for me, will you, Mr. Weasley." She handed Fred Lee's schedule and moved on.

"Let's see what we have here," George said. "Today is Wednesday that means we've got double potions", Fred made a face, "and Def, but that's it. Short day."

"Wonder what good ol' Snape will have to say to you," Fred said.

"It's no secret he and Sirius loathed each other when they were at school", George said nodding.

Sophie looked at them and shrugged her shoulders. "I'll manage."

Fred shook his head. "You won't have to. The slightest hint of injustice directed your way –"

"- and he'll regret the day he chose to become a teacher," George finished.

Angie nudged her side. "See? I told you when your friends with them no one will dare cross you."

The twins smirked.

"Now, let's not just stand here, let's eat, folks," Fred said. They moved to sit down and he added to George, "I kinda wish he's unfair to her, maybe we can hex him so he forgets our detention tonight."

"You got detention? How did you do that, it's our first day!"

"Oh Angelina, I almost feel you don't know us at all," Fred said.

Angie snorted. "You're right, why am I surprised?"

"Exactly my point," Fred said with a smirk and fell onto the bench beside her. "Mhm, waffles."

The potions classroom was located in the castle's dungeons. Down there it was colder, damper, and the stony walls seemed to want to press the corridors together.

"Atmospheric, isn't it?" said Lee, who had finally made it out of bed, when he saw Sophie looking at chains hanging from the wall suspiciously.

Potions class they shared with the sixth year Hufflepuffs.

They filled into the room. The twins and Lee took seats at the very back of the classroom right by the door and Kenny sat down beside Lee with an eye roll. The girls took two of the tables in the middle and Sophie sat down besides Alicia. She didn't recognize any of the Hufflepuffs but one blonde boy in the first row caught her eye, smiled and winked, before turning to the board. Sophie furrowed her brows.

The door shut close and something black rushed past her and that was when she learned that Professor Snape could move almost without making a sound.

"Today", he spoke in his low, somehow unnerving voice, "we will see what you have held in your heads over the holidays, who studied and who didn't. Quills out, the first lesson will require no practical skills."

Alicia groaned beside her. Sophie looked back and shared a raised eyebrow with George who shook his head and rolled his eyes. She smiled and turned back to face the front.

The tests were handed out and she scanned the first questions.

"Name five ingredients of the Polyjuice Potion. Question two, what colour should the Elixir of Euphoria have in the finished state. Question three,..."

Sophie thought she could do okay in the test. She knew some of these questions without thinking about them long, for example Euphoria was a bright yellow colour. Even if she wouldn't excel, she should at least be able to pass.

Near the end of the first lesson she'd filled out what she knew and guessed at the questions she wasn't entirely sure of. She turned to see how George was doing and he caught her eye. Grinning, he tipped his nose with his index finger.

Sophie smiled and turned back to her paper.

The second part of the lesson was completing a pre-brewed potion. The difficulty was that they were not told what kind of potion they were given.

"What a git," Fred said.

"So like him," George said, "testing us the first day back."

"As if I spent all summer reading that stupid potions book or my notes from last year," Lee said.

"What notes?" Fred said grinning.

"Exactly," Lee said.

"I'm going to fail," Alicia said.

"No you're not," Angie said.

"Stop stressing out, Ash, it was only our first lesson. I can't take your fear of failure this early in the year."

Alicia mumbled something.

"And besides, steady fingers here didn't seem to have too much trouble, so just ask her if you're freaking out."

"Did you just call me steady fingers?" Sophie asked.

"I told you she had the worst nicknames."

"Don't fret. It'll change before I settle on something permanent."

Even though it was meant as a comfort, it didn't do the trick.

The period before lunch was Defence Against the Dark Arts – in short Def - with Professor Moody. After a sermon of that covered five sixths of the double lesson about vigilance, suspicion, and simple-mindedness, they were asked to stand up and pull out their wands. The tables and chairs were magically moved to the sides and Moody went on pointing his wand at random students, firing stunning spells on them. Only those quick enough to conjure shields, three out of seventeen students in total, did not crash to the ground.

"Mad he is! Mad!" Lee said rubbing his pelvis. "Freaking mad. Professor Lupin at least had cushions when we practised spells that included floor-mopping. But he is mad. The louder the crash the happier his scarred face. Lunatic."

"I think I bruised my elbow," Alicia said.

"Don't worry, Ally. When Dumbledore finds out what that nut person is doing to us, he'll intervene," Lee said.

Alicia smiled weakly but no one else shared Lee's trust that Mad Eye would be going anywhere any time soon. In his lesson their new professor had taken a hard line, but no one could deny that they hadn't all taken something from it, something more than just a few bruises.

Of course, Lee had every right to be especially grumpy, because Moody had singled him out at the end to demonstrate what not to do when fighting off an offensive spell, and so Lee had hit the hard wooden floor twice as much as everyone else.

At lunch Sophie finally met the famous Oliver Wood. She'd heard Harry talk about him, the twins talk about him, Pat talk about him, McGonagall talk about him, and when Lee saw the eighth year student approaching, he mumbled, "watch it guys, the next lunatic has taken aim at us."

But Oliver didn't strike her as a lunatic, the opposite actually. He was tall, well-built, handsome and friendly. He introduced himself and greeted everyone present, before informing his team of the date for the try-outs and first trainings.

And he wore that Captain badge like he owned it. Which he did.

Sophie couldn't help but follow the Quidditch Captain with her eyes when he left them again to sit with his classmates.

"Also on Pat's list," Alicia said from her right.

"Oh yes," Pat said, gazing off into the distance, "and very well deserved, too."

Sophie shook her head and tried to focus on the plan for the rest of the day, only to find that there was none. So she followed them up to the common room and sat, a few hours later, unoccupied but not bored, because she didn't get bored, with her brother at a table, before a boy with rain drenched dreadlocks put a promising spin to her evening.

* * *

><p>Present Time<p>

Several floors beneath in another part of the castle a sixteen year old red head was scrubbing away at a cauldron and the exact same image stood a desk further down.

"This sucks," Fred said.

"Badly," George said.

The brothers looked at one another and let the sponges drop in sync. George pushed his cauldron to the end of the table to make room and hopped on. With one ankle crossed under his other leg that he let swing from the table he looked at his twin.

"Got anything on you?"

"Nah, I've been wrecking my brain. The old bat has given us too many detentions to let us walk in here without emptying our pockets first. And you know he got the Wrecking Wrench out of my shoe, too. Other than that I didn't bring anything. I didn't expect he'd magically seal us in here, nor that Lee would take that long with his rescue."

"Yeah, he's slacking, he is," George said.

The sighed in synch.

Fred was leaned against his table, facing George. He titled his head and said, "you still didn't tell me how your date with Sophie went."

"I did, however, tell you that it was _not_ a date."

"Repeatedly."

George looked at his cauldron. Since in the dungeons had no window he could have looked out of to avoid his brother's gaze, his dirty cauldron had to do.

"Well, do I have to jinx you, or what?"

"Try," George said with a smirk.

"Right, no wands. That old bat doesn't trust us with anything."

George nodded.

"Well, so just tell me already. I'm slowly getting curious. We always share everything about girls."

"I do not have to remind you that neither of us has a lot to share, do I?"

"We did get a peek at Jelly-Jasmin's underwear."

"We were five and so was she."

"Well, we've talked about this. Girls are trouble the Marauders wrote no guide to."

George looked at him and sighed. "We're pathetic."

"What? No we're not. Not a single soul doesn't love us in this castle."

"I know one, who's sitting in his office, forging out a plan how to rid the world of hair conditioner."

Fred smirked. "Even the old bat loves us deep down. So much he can't even stand not having us in detention the very first day. But don't you think I didn't realize that you were trying to change the topic. Your moves are my moves, too, brother."

"Unfortunately. Look, it was nice. She's nice. She's family and a friend and funny and that's it. No more to it."

"Your words or hers?"

George shot him a look. "Will you drop it already?"

"I don't understand you. Putting up that show in front of Lee and Kenny, alright, but me? I saw you staring at her in the middle of the night through their living room window and now you give me that crap about being family? Please."

George had to admit he had a point. A tiny point.

"George, you're smitten. I can see it. I just don't know why you won't admit to it."

"Because she's not seeing me that way, is she? Isn't that obvious? Lee doesn't mind running around saying he's in love with every girl, even though they don't love him back, but that's not really the same, is it? I'm sorry, but I can't do that, run around and make a complete idiot of myself. Not like that."

"How do you know she doesn't see you that way, have you asked her?"

George looked at him as if he feared Fred had gone insane.

"Sure, I said hey you know, you're the prettiest girl I've ever met, what do you think? Yeah, totally done that." George's neck grew warm.

He was getting annoyed and George was rarely getting annoyed, at least not with him. So naturally, Fred decided to prod.

"Well, how do you know then?"

"Because she told me. In the train, when you were oh-so unsuspiciously taking hours walking the train with Dustin. She said she didn't want a boyfriend, just a friend. So there you go."

Fred ran a hand through his hair and over his face. The Marauders really should have written a manual to girls.

"That was on the train, girls change their mind all the time."

"That was yesterday. And she doesn't strike me as the person who's indecisive." George pushed himself off the table. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't outright, but this just sucks." He took up his sponge and started at his cauldron again.

Fred watched him for a while but remained silent. Apparently he had to step up his game. Well, first thing on the list was hiring Lee as a partner in crime, though Lee was taking so long with his rescue, maybe he'd do better asking Kenny for help.

Two floors above them Lee talked insistently and in a hushed voice to Dustin. "So you know what to do. You hold this until we give you the signal, then light it up with that spell and throw it as far as you can down the corridor. Tell me the rest."

"Then I'll turn the corner and run up through the passageway behind the blue tapestry to meet you at the floor above. I won't look back and I won't stop."

"Perfect," Lee said with a grin and patted his shoulder. "Just remember to throw it the second you light it."

"Or what?" Sophie asked.

"Or we'll take the rout over the hospital wing."

"Lee, you better not blow up my brother."

Lee looked at her and shrunk. Her look was kinda scary and her voice bore a fierce undertone. He gulped at the thought what she'd do to him.

"Nah," he said but somewhat nervous. "If he throws it, nothing will happen. Just throw it, buddy, right. Okay, let's got."

Dustin stood happy as a puppy with the firecracker in his hand and watched his sister and Lee round the corner.

"If so much as a hair-"

"Nothing will happen if he let's go at the right time. Come on, we better hurry. Or the fire won't be his number one problem, but the professor's patrolling the corridors."

"I thought no one was patrolling tonight? You said-"

"I said the prefects aren't patrolling, because the head boy and girl didn't put the schedules up yet," he corrected.

"Lee," she said warningly, "if anything goes wrong and Dustin-"

"He'll be fine." Then he shot her a look. "You're not having any fun, So, chill."

Even with the Marauder's Map in her hands Sophie felt lost now and again, whereas Lee walked the castle as if he'd been born there. "Alright, _Aqua Eructo_," Lee said and pointed his wand to the floor.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" Sophie asked while watching as several puddles formed on the stone floor.

"Just watch," he said and then used his wand like a quill. Hanging in mid-air the words "Myrtle is ugly" formed.

Lee turned to her and grinned.

"Who is Myrtle?"

"Oh, of course you wouldn't know. She's the ghost that hunts the girl's toilets in a tower north from here. Now that we did that, let's give Dustin the signal, shall we?"

Sophie nodded. "_Expecto Patronus_." A silvery-white panther erupted from the tip of her wand and then swept off in an elegant run to where Dustin waited for their signal.

"That's wicked," Lee said, looking after the cat.

Sophie shrugged, "it was one my earlier spells. It didn't take this form back then of course, but I guess you teach yourself the magic you need, right?"

"You taught yourself", Lee said still looking where the panther had vanished. "That's not normal."

Sophie looked at him with drawn together eyebrows and a smile. Lee was weird sometimes, but funny still.

"So what now?"

"Right, we'll go meet Dustin, come on."

When they heard a loud bang some corridors away Lee snickered and she just hoped Dustin was alright. When they met him at the designated location, the grin that went from one ear to another told her that her brother had in fact never been better.

"And now?"

"Map," Lee said.

A tiny "Argus Filch" dot hobbled over the map in their direction, accompanied by "Mrs. Norris" – which was Filch's cat.

When Filch had reached the corridor Dustin had set off the fire cracker in, Lee pushed aside the tapestry Dustin had come through and pointed his wand at his throat.

In a high-pitched, crackling voice he said, "Boom, haha. Fire everywhere, boom, boom! Poor ugly Myrtle crying out her eyes, Boom ha-ha. Peeves knows what to do now, the potions masters cupboard needs a thorough cleaning, ay? Boom ha-ha!"

When Lee turned he saw that the two Blacks looked at him incredulously with furrowed brows and confused looks. He snickered. "I'll explain, but first we have to get down to the dungeons. Filch should go warn Snape now and that should give us a chance to get close to our enchained brothers."

"Why the set up with Myrtle?" Sophie asked

"Rule five of mischief managing, always back up your claims," Lee just said.

They reached one of the staircases that led to the dungeons.

"Oh watch it!" He had glanced at the parchment in Sophie's hands just at the right time to see Snape heading their way. The three squeezed themselves into a notch in the wall behind a tapestry. Pressed together they waited until they heard Snape's cloak flutter past. His steps were nearly noiseless that the crackling of the nearest torch almost swallowed the sound.

Lucky for them Snape didn't notice three pairs of sneaker stick out under the tapestry.

Carefully the stepped out into the corridor again. "Quick now," Lee said and they hurried away.

"How do you know where he holds them?" Dustin asked.

"I think he'll have them imprisoned in the cauldron hell. It's the place where the evil bat stacks all the old cauldrons he likes to make innocents clean by hand."

Dustin looked at Sophie with big eyes and she bit her cheek to keep from chuckling when he looked away. For him this was nothing else but a prison rescue-mission. And Lee played the part of the rescue troop leader well.

"Here we are."

To her the door looked like any other classroom door in the dungeons and the corridor, too. Stone, torches, chains, paintings of gruesome faces, and more dark stone. It was easy to pretend they actually were in a prison.

"_Alohomora_," Lee tried but the door wouldn't open.

"_Porta Aperio_. _Dissendium_," Sophie tried, but the door remained locked.

"Bombarda," Lee said, but other than a few sparks that went back in their direction, this, too, turned out useless.

"Out of the way!" Dustin called behind them.

Lee and Sophie turned. Her brother had broken a lance from where it had hung at the wall. They stumbled aside when the eleven-year old ran up to the door, the weapon steady in his hands.

"Dustin, this won't…"

The door burst open.

"…work," she finished lamely.

The door would only open half way, since the lance stuck in the wood. Fred and George appeared.

"What the hell took you so long," was Fred's greeting as he limbo danced out of their cell under the lance.

"Nice work," Lee said and high-fived Dustin.

"How did you get rid of Snape?" George wanted to know ducking around the lance in the door.

"Oh crap," Lee lunged for the Map and looked at it. "We didn't, he'll be back here in ten seconds, run!"

Sophie grabbed Dustin's arm and they sped after Lee, the twins following. When they were out of the dungeons in the Marble Staircase Hall they scaled their run down to a jog, but didn't dare move any slower.

Why did their common room had to be on a seventh floor in a tower at the other side of the castle?

If the three twins hadn't known all the short cuts there were, Sophie would have probably collapsed somewhere and died of short-breath, her brother on top of her.

But soon the corridors looked more familiar and they approached the Fat Lady in a jog.

"Remind me, Sophie, how many rule breaks have you done by now?"

Dustin snickered and George winked at him.

"Remind me," Sophie countered, "how many of those were your fault?"

"Touché", he said grinning.

Back in the common room the five fell onto the couch and armchairs in front of the fire place.

"Will Snape just let your detention slide?" Sophie asked.

The common room wasn't busy with students anymore. In a far corner she had recognized Oliver Wood when they had come in, but apart from them only a handful of students were still up.

"We'll see," George said. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't. But we'll be back in detention in no time anyway, so maybe he won't bother continuing this one."

She smiled at him as he brushed his hair away from his sweaty forehead. Dustin sat beside her, eyes dropping close from exhaustion. Fred glanced at Lee and Lee caught his eye.

"Hey you two," George said and they looked at him. "We still need to figure out what to do about entering the tournament."

"True," Lee said. "It sucks we won't be seventeen until Halloween."

"You could enter," Dustin mumbled in half-sleep. "You're seventeen next week."

George raise an eyebrow at her.

"No, I will definitely not. I want peaceful quiet, not a life-threating quest for money and fame. Not me, sorry."

"Ah, come one", George said grinning.

But Fred was focused on another thing: it was Sophie's birthday next week.

Step one: Hire Lee.

Step two: Pretend to hire George to plan a birthday party, when in fact planning how to get him to snog Sophie.

Step three: Naming the thing.

He narrowed his eyes and thought… mission Sophie and George – Sorge? Nah that sounded stupid. Mission… mission birthday snog. BS. Bullshit. Mission… mission…

"I think it's time for bed," Sophie said looking at her brother when Dustin's head hit her shoulder.

"I got you."

Sophie got up and George collected Dustin in his arms.

"Guys?"

They rose to their feet.

"Night So," Lee said as they parted at the staircase.

"Night guys."

"Thanks for the rescue," George said.

"Sure," she said.

Mission GGAST – getting George and Sophie together. Yep. Mission GGAST was about to start.

"Night Sophie," Fred said with a grin and that happy feeling in his stomach he always got when a good plan for mischief had settled in his head.

* * *

><p><strong>That's it for chapter 6. I hope you liked it – if so, let me know ;)<strong>

**Have a good weekend, **

**Citty**

**Ps. Looking for a Beta. If you're interested, PM me. Thanks!**


	7. GGAST and Oliver

**Here we go with the Friday update. Special thanks to ****meowbow**** for your lovely review!**** Enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: GGAST and Oliver<p>

George groaned. That was something he had done a lot lately. When Snape had scolded them for breaking down a dungeon door (even though it really had been Dustin who rammed the lance in there) and put them in detention once again, for instance, or when Professor McGonagall had given them a three feet long essay as homework, or when his back had hit the floor after lunatic-Moody had stunned him in class. Yes, George had been groaning a lot lately.

This was no different kind of groan. The classic are-you-kidding-me or not-again kind. He groaned, because he had finally realized what his brother was up to.

"It's a win-win situation," Fred said. "She's getting a birthday party and you get a chance to see if she really meant what she said."

"I will not kiss her," George said and felt his neck grow warm.

"Suit yourself," Fred sighed.

The two Weasleys reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Cherry bogus," Fred said, the portrait swung aside, and they climbed into the common room. The tables that stood at the right far side of the room, usually used to do homework at or play a game of chess, were covered in confetti and a big cake with red and golden frosting stood in the middle. A banner, drawn by the artistic Dean Thomas, hung above, saying _Happy 17__th__ Birthday Sophie_ and a bunch of colourful balloons were tied to the backsides of chairs or lay on the floor.

"Looks fantastic," George said.

"Ron, hands off the frosting," Hermione said and slapped his hand away.

"But-"

"No."

Ron looked discouraged and slumped down in a chair.

"Butter beers and chocolate éclairs," Fred said and began to unpack the bags they had carried up from the kitchens.

"No," Hermione said again.

"You're worse than mum," Ron grumbled.

"She'll love it," Harry said. "Dustin, do you have our present?"

"Dean had it."

"No, he left it here somewhere," Hermione said.

Ginny noticed a small red ribbon. "Ron! You're sitting on it!"

Ron looked up with round cheeks like a hamster, "huh?"

"You're sitting on the card Dean drew," Harry said.

"Oh." Ron pulled it out from under him, "good asch nu", handed it to him and swallowed the éclair he had snug in when Hermione had been distracted.

"The party was a good idea, and also a good way to distract from the fact that none of us has a decent present," Fred said.

"I didn't even know her birthday was coming up," Lee defended himself.

"You didn't even know you were going to know her," George said.

"Good point."

While Fred lined up the bottles on a by-standing table, the others sat down on the chairs they had assembled. Ginny and Hermione sat next to Harry and Ron, who tried to make Hermione look away from the food in amateurish attempts. George sat down next to Dustin and Lee, and on the other side of the cake Pat and Alicia sat and waited.

Seamus approached the cake.

"Are we sure we want to use Seamus' candle?" George asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" the Irish boy asked while duplicating the candle in his hands with a tip of his wand and setting it and its sixteen copies on top of the cake.

"You have a habit to blow things up, mate," Ron said and some chuckled.

"This is a normal candle," Seamus said with an eye roll. "Done. So, when's the birthday girl going to show up?"

"It's not long till midnight. They should be heading back from the library now," Harry said.

"It was a good idea to involve Percy," Dean said, who'd tied some left over balloons to the chandelier in the middle of the common room, "Madam Prince would have never let them stay till midnight if any of us had asked her."

"Yeah, there's an appeal, however small and petty, to having a nerdy prefect brother," Fred said.

"Speaking of-?" Hermione began.

Ginny snorted. "Probably somewhere snogging Penny."

"Three minutes to midnight," George said with a glance at his watch.

"I hope Angelina doesn't show up with her early," Fred said

"That would be weird", Lee said. "Staring at her in silence while the clock is ticking down."

"You're an idiot," George said chuckling.

"She's going to love it," Dustin said happily wriggling about on his chair.

"Well, up we get, a minute to midnight," Fred announced and everyone got to their feet.

"I hope she hurries," Ron said with a side-glance at the cake.

"Ron, you're such a-," Hermione started, but Ron didn't get to hear what he was, because they heard the portrait swing open.

George bit his lip.

They heard Angie's voice. "Oh Sophie, isn't it your birthday today?"

Then they saw Angie and she smirked, looking back at her companion.

"Um, yeah it's –" Sophie stared at them momentarily rendered speechless.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone shouted and cheered. Dean, Seamus and Lee blew into the noisemakers stuck between their lips, and Angie threw an arm around the stunned birthday girl's shoulders.

"Happy Birthday," she said grinning.

"Th-thank you?"

"Wait up," Fred called and with a swing of his wand ignited a fuse cord attached to a box that stood in the middle of the room under the chandelier.

The slow hissing sound made several students step back.

With an ear shattering _bang_ several firecrackers erupted from the box and showered them in sparks of every rainbow colour.

The concept of that had clearly not been thought out thoroughly, because some of the larger crackers bounced off the walls and they had to duck behind furniture as not to get burned or blown up, and halfway through the fireworks the room was filled with smoke.

Coughing, Sophie and Angie pointed their wands at the nearest windows they could still make out and opened them, the party corner was covered in dark smoke entirely.

"Yeah, that's how the twins plan parties," Angie said and shook her head.

Sophie chuckled.

She saw his red hair emerge out of the smoke before she saw his face. George stepped over the now silent box of Weasley's Firecrackers and made his way over to her, while the others opened windows.

"Sorry about that," he said with a grin, "but happy birthday anyway."

"No worries. Thank you, this is amazing."

"Told you she'd say that", Fred voice sounded behind his twin and George threw him a Sickle.

"I said you'd say 'wow'," he said shrugging.

Sophie laughed. "Well, it is wow."

"Yes it is. Come, let's have some of that smoked cake."

"Wait, first you have to blow out the candles and make a wish!" Lee, who stood by the cake, attempted to ignite the candles and another bang covered them in smoke again.

"Finnigan!" they heard him roar, as they coughed and waved away the smoke. "How can you mess up a duplication charm? We learnt that in first year!"

Seamus ignored Lee but looked at her apologetically. Sophie just laughed. "Smoked cake it is now," she said and dipped her finger into the destroyed baking. There was a crater in the middle of it.

"Mh, it's good. Help yourselves, and thanks for the, uhm, party attempt."

They laughed and wished her a happy birthday, and then they all sat around the table with the food and enjoyed what was left of it.

"We also made you a card, as some form of gift," Dustin said and Harry handed it to him. "See?"

In the front there was a drawing of her on her Firebolt, zooming in and out of the picture.

"Dean drew that," Dustin said.

"Thanks, Dean, it's amazing," she said looking up to him.

"No problem," the tall boy said and gave her his dimpled smile.

"Open it," Dustin said, "see, everybody signed."

"We are going to cheer you on tomorrow at the try-outs. Happy Birthday!" she read with a laugh, "thanks guys, that's really sweet."

"You're welcome," Lee said grinning.

The noise from the fireworks had woken up most of the students in their dormitories above, so Sophie met a larger portion of Gryffindor house that night. Oliver Wood came down, wished her a happy birthday and took a chocolate éclair with him. Katie Bell, a blonde from sixth grade, stopped by, too. She was the second Chaser on the Gryffindor team and wished her luck for the try-outs the next day. Neville Longbottom, who shared the dorm with Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus, came down to see what the noise was about. The round faced boy stayed until the party was over. And another two girls from fourth year joined the celebration, Lavender and Parvati, Hermione's dorm mates.

"Quite the party, hu?" Dustin whispered to her at some point during the party.

"Yeah, thanks for your involvement little brother." She rumpled his hair and he grinned.

"It is quite a party," she said more to herself than him, looking around all those more or less familiar faces.

Even Dobby the house elf dropped by. With a _crack _he appeared right in the middle of the common room and presented her with a self-knit gruesome pink and orange sock. Sophie thanked him and with another _crack_ he was gone again. She wouldn't be able to wear it, but she'd hold it dearly someplace in her trunk. After all, she'd never been presented with a sock before, and one so colourful at that.

It was shortly after two that the Weasley brother with the curly hair appeared and told them to break the party up. Then, he wished her a happy birthday, and after, he shot Ron a disproving look and a comment on the crater in the cake's middle and to his youngest brother's eating habits. Ron's defences fell on deaf ears.

They cleaned up and one after another left for bed, until only Sophie, Angie and the twins remained.

"I knew it couldn't have been normal that she let us stay in the library till midnight", Sophie said to her dorm mate.

"I admit, Percy had a hand in it. But you didn't suspect anything, did you?"

"No," Sophie said decidedly, "I mean, this -? No, I didn't suspect a thing."

Behind her back the twins exchanged high-fives.

"Well, everything's back to normal," Fred said.

"Except that hole in the back of the couch," Angie pointed out. It was a big, black burn, still silently smoking, and sat right in the middle of the couch's back.

"Always one for details, aren't you, Angelina?"

She just smirked and wished them a good night. With a look back at the three she left for the stairs, but not before exchanging a glance with Fred.

"Yep, I'll follow the lead. Good night."

George looked at her with a smile. He seemed wide awake.

"So, what rule am I going to break tonight?" she asked him.

He tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's my birthday, is it not? I'm sure you guys have some tradition on birthday rule breaking."

He smirked. "You really must have a bad picture of us."

"Depends on who is judging I guess," she said with a laugh.

Georges smirk grew wider. "Alright. We'll you theoretically broke the curfew rule," he said tipping his fingers while he counted, "both of the library and the castle in general and you had a party till after midnight, which is also not particularly encouraged."

"Those were really the rule breaks of my friends, were they not?"

Sophie liked how easy the word _friends_ had rolled of her tongue.

"Mh, maybe. If we don't want to go far, we could go sit on the outer wall of the Quad and sip a birthday butter beer."

"Sounds like a plan. I left the Marauder's Map upstairs, I'm just going to get it."

Sophie jogged up the stairs. Truthfully, she wanted to get a fresh t-shirt and some cold water in her face. It had been a long day and she didn't feel like the freshest-smelling company right then. She silently made her way through their dorm to the bathroom. The curtains around the beds of the others were drawn close. Their bathroom was small. She splashed cold water in her face, fixed her mascara, and run a brush through her hair. A quick gargle with mouth rinse and she was good to go. She stopped however, midway through her turn for the door, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The girl she saw was definitely her, but she was different all the same, like herself but in another life. Who would have thought that they had been planning a party for her? Who would have thought that she'd make actual friends in this school? With a smile she concluded that it was in fact a different life, but hers either way. She changed her shirt to a white blouse and left her cloak on her bed, deciding that the Gryffindor jumper would do. With the map in her hand she descended the stairs.

* * *

><p>The view down the Quad's outer wall was exceptional. While they hadn't been able to make out much a week ago on the Astronomy Tower, that night they were able to see the shimmering surface of the lake and a lot of their surroundings clearly. They sat on the old stone, side-by-side, watching the night's sky, with their feet dangling off the wall.<p>

"Poor Lupin", George said, looking up at the full moon.

"Mhm", Sophie said and nipped at the butter beer they'd brought. She seemed deep in thought, her eyes distant. "Thanks for the party," she said with a shake of her head, turned to look at him, and smiled.

One side of her face was clearly illuminated by the moon and it reflected in her stormy blue eyes. He wondered what she'd been thinking about.

"Of course, you deserved it."

"I hadn't had a decent one for quite a while to be honest," she said, looking back out at the lake.

George had noticed that she did that. Most times when she revealed something about her past, she wouldn't meet his eye.

"I'm glad you liked it," he said, mirroring her posture and looking back out on the lake.

"I've noticed something," she said after a while. "Everybody calls Angie 'Angie', except Fred."

He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, he likes calling her by her full name. It's been like this since first grade."

"But he doesn't -?"

"Nah, there was never anything more than friendship between the two."

"Mh. That's sweet."

He looked at her sideways and saw her smile. A strand of her hair had fallen out from behind her ear.

"Are you nervous about try-outs tomorrow?"

"Not much," she said and turned to look at him, "yet." They smiled. "I guess I will be tomorrow. I wasn't too sure at the beginning, but now I really want to be on the team."

"Now that you know how awesome the other players are."

"Exactly."

George grinned and was reminded of their sunset dinner at the pitch the week before. Lee had told him that he'd called it a date in front of her and that she hadn't corrected him. Of course, Lee could have easily made that up.

"I like those nights out with you, it almost is a tradition by now."

She rounded the top of her bottle with her thumb.

"Yeah, me, too. It's nice to have that kind of tradition."

"Do you have other traditions?" he asked, putting his bottle aside, and leaned back on his elbows. A soft breeze waved over them.

"I have a tradition of making the wrong choices," she said with a chuckle.

"You?" George furrowed his brows. "I don't believe that for a second."

She looked back at him and her face fell in the shadows.

"You are the kind of person that always knows which way to go and makes the right decisions without even thinking about them."

"You think so?"

He sat up again without breaking eye contact.

"I know so."

"You know me that well, hu?"

"I'm figuring you out, step-by step."

The corners of his mouth curved into a smile and she mirrored it. He was so close he could almost see his own reflection in her eyes.

Once again the stars reflected in them, and once again George couldn't help but comment on it.

"Do you still think they hide away a mystery?" she asked him, her eyes fixed on his calm, brown ones.

George nodded. "I do."

"And have you gotten any closer to solving it?"

The night's lights illuminated her smile. Though neither the moon nor the stars seemed important when they both leaned in to close the short distance between them, their noses touched, and, finally, his lips brushed hers.

George was certain his heart beat could make the Clock Tower jealous. As his lips parted hers, he could swear the world had turned pink behind his close eyelids, Hagrids could fly, and McGonagalls read romance novels between classes.

The cold tip of her nose cooled his burning skin when she kissed back and he breathed in her scent of wild flowers, lime, and his mum's Easter pudding.

Just when sweet fog began to cloud his brain, she broke the kiss.

Confused, he furrowed his brows and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Sorry", she said, her voice just above a whisper.

"Uhm."

"That… shouldn't have happened."

While George stared at a point on her knee, Sophie picked up her bottle of butter beer again and looked at it, as if pondering her next line.

"Maybe we should head back," she then said and looked at him, and he met her eyes.

A guarded mystery he saw in them.

He nodded, picked up his butter beer and got to his feet, extending a hand.

She smiled when she took it and they set off.

George was eternally thankful that they hadn't been to the other side of the castle, but only two floors down, as their walk back was silent and deeply uncomfortable for him. He fiddled with his bottle. He'd just kissed her, kissed her! Fog began to cloud his brain again and he shook his head.

Sophie said the password and the Fat Lady, silently snoring to herself, swung open. They climbed in and stopped in the middle of the common room.

George shook his head again, in a feeble attempt to shake his thoughts in order. Then she turned and looked at him, and he looked up. If his eyes were speaking his thoughts, then they were screaming for an explanation, but apparently they weren't.

Sophie smiled, which confused him even more and then she took a step forward and hugged him. "Thanks for the party," she said, smiled, and then turned to walk up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

Before she vanished on the staircase, he managed to speak up. "Sorry, for that," he said.

She turned and smiled, and he wondered if her smile was just a cover-up for her true emotions. "No worries, friends, right?"

"Sure", he said and even managed a smile.

"Night, George," she said and her smile seemed sincere.

"Night, So," he said and she left. And then he stood alone, a little after three in the morning, confused as hell in the common room. Unconsciously he raised his hands and his fingers touched his lips. The contact jolted him out of his trance. She had kissed him. He had kissed her. He had kissed _her_. He stumbled backwards onto a chair and sat down. Shit. His wide open eyes fell onto a parchment on the table with a first paragraph on the Memory Charm. He took the quill who lay next to it, tipped it in the bottle of ink and scratched out the paragraph. Then he turned the parchment and began at the top.

_Dear Bill, _

George paused to think. This was a not very well thought-out, emotional reaction to what had just happened. He shrugged his shoulders. It wouldn't be the first time. So he set the quill back on the parchment and wrote a letter to his eldest brother in Egypt.

_Are first kisses supposed to be the most uncomfortable thing in the world? Because that is what it feels like. I should, perhaps, explain. _

_I know Mum wrote to you about Sirius, Harry's godfather and yet-innocent murderer, moving into the area, and his two kids, Dustin (11) and Sophie (17). You can guess where this is going. So I kind of fell for her – it wasn't my fault I swear, I tried not to – but Fred called my bluff. And then the stupid git went to make it his mission to get me to snog her, he even named it: GGAST – getting George and Sophie together. Exactly why I am the creative one and get to name most of the things. Anyway. _

_I broke a few rules with her, you know, just for the fun of it. And she's really cool about it – and no, that's not entirely my fault, look at who her dad is. So today is her birthday and we planned a party for her. She was really surprised, you should have seen the look on her face. So when it was only us, she asked if there was a tradition on birthday rule breaking (yeah, she's cool like that) and we went to the Quad and looked out at the lake, drinking butter beer. (It's full moon by the way.) _

_We talked about this and that, nothing too serious. I once told her that her eyes looked like they hide away a mystery when the stars reflect in them (I know that sounds super cheesy when I write it. Don't judge.) and they looked like that again, so I told her. She asked me if I had come any closer to solving it and since we were sitting next to each other, when we looked at another there wasn't so much space left between our faces. And then we did it. _

_I don't know if you were aware but as I stated above, it was my first kiss. And it wasn't like snogging it was just that our lips touched. For a moment I was totally happy and then she broke it and apologised and we went back to the common room. She thanked me for the party and hugged me and smiled and now she's in bed and I am sitting here in the common room at four in the morning to write a letter to you, asking if a first kiss usually is the most embarrassing thing and weirdest feeling ever. _

_Bill, please help. This really sucks. _

_And kill Fred for me, will you?_

_Hope your well, _

_Confused George _

He didn't bother to read over it again, he'd only end up throwing it away. Instead he folded it in the middle and pondered whether or not he should risk going to the Owlery without a Map or Harry's invisibility cloak at four in the morning. He just really needed Bill to get the letter ASAP. George groaned. There really wasn't a decision to be made. So he got up with the last strength his exhausted body could muster and dragged himself to the backside of the portrait.

His journey to the West Tower passed like a weird rush of nothingness. One minute he'd stepped out of the portrait, the next he found himself in the Owlery. He picked a fit-looking school owl designated for long journeys and tied the letter to her foot. He watched her set off and then slumped down on a pile of fresh hay. With his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands he decided to close his eyes for just a moment…

* * *

><p>"Are you even paying attention?"<p>

Harry turned around and saw Fred look at his twin brother. George was leaned on his broom, head resting on his hands, and every time he blinked his eyes needed more time to open up again.

"Mhm," George murmured.

"Alright, I will call your names and you will step forth – understood? Let's see who've got here," Oliver said. "Tracy Cornwall, Colin Creevy, Sophie Black, Cormac McLaggen, Dean Thomas, Jonathan Pie." He looked up from his list. "And you are?"

"Felicitas Greenbroom", the girl said.

"How old are you?"

"Uhm."

"Off my pitch. Now, everyone else get a broom from Johnson, we'll start with rounds of warm up. Get going."

Harry could see that Oliver's commanding voice was something Sophie wasn't entirely fond of, probably because it was so unexpected. Oliver always turned a bit overly-passionate when it came to Quidditch.

He looked to Ron and Hermione at the stands, sitting with Dustin, Ginny, Alicia, Pat, Lee, Seamus and Neville. They all had come to cheer on the new candidates.

The trainees walked over the lawn to Angie and picked a broom. For try-outs school brooms were used so the conditions were the same for everyone.

That particular September afternoon was chilly. The wind bore an icy note that foretold the arriving winter. Harry drew his hands back into his sleeves as he stood and watched Sophie get a broom. Cold breezes made his hair pinch his eyes and he shook his head annoyed. He needed a cut.

"George, wake up or I'll be looking for another Beater today, too", Oliver said when he walked past where his fellow three male team colleagues stood. George startled up from his doze and looked around.

Harry suppressed a grin.

"On your brooms and up in the air," Oliver instructed and everybody kicked off.

Just from that Harry could judge who was an experienced flyer and who was not. Jonathan Pie, a second grader by the looks of it, and Colin Creevy, like Ginny Weasley in third year, both had a week start, while Cormac and Sophie were soaring high up in the air already.

"Right," Oliver called. "Follow me and copy my moves."

Oliver led the rounds around the pitch. The trainees followed him and the team followed them. First, it was just a variation of speed, slowing down, starting up again, and finally a sprint. After that it was flying with only one hand on the broom or no hand. Jonathan Pie almost fell off his broom at that point.

Harry and the rest of the team were quite familiar with Oliver's moves, so everybody knew what was coming next beforehand. George knew, too, though he looked like he was sleep-flying.

The last round was flying standing up, which was always a strain on the lower leg and Oliver usually used when the team's practice didn't live up to his expectations, or he just felt like torturing them. After one third of the round half of the trainees sat down again, George hadn't even stood up in the first place.

Even though his legs hurt – he had been pretty much out of practice all summer – Harry was glad he was back out on the field again, zooming trough the stadium, and it was easy to imagine the stands full of people, the cheering and clapping ringing like a ghostly memory in his ear.

"Teams of four," Oliver said. "Tracy, Collin, and Sophie with Angie, and Cormac, Dean, and Jonathan with Katie. We'll play on the lower hoops, try to score but don't forget to pass, either. Weasley! No - the one asleep, get down and get the Quaffle. I want you three to watch them and then tell me your observations." Oliver flew with the rest down to the three rings, while George, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, went to get the Quaffle.

"How long was he up last night?" Harry asked while he followed the others with Fred.

"He came in after my alarm woke me," Fred said, "just before breakfast." He didn't tell Harry anymore.

Harry and the twins positioned themselves to the side of the pitch flush with the hoops and hovered there with a good overview of the players.

It was quite clear who would not make the team. Their two youngest candidates definitely lacked confidence just holding themselves upright on their brooms in the quick game that they played. Quidditch was a game of pace and if you weren't able to keep up with it in a training, how would you be able to manage precision on top of that in an actual game?

The other four, Dean, Tracy, Cormac, and Sophie cut a fine figure, but for one of them the try-out ended prematurely.

Cormac packed quite a heavy throw and as Sophie rounded the hoops after a toss that had been warded off by Oliver, Cormac hurled the Quaffle that hit her over the head, tossed her against the hoop and successfully threw her off her broom and she fell freely several feet, before Angie and Katie caught her and set the unconscious form down on the ground.

"McLaggen!" Oliver screamed. "What do you think you're doing?"

Harry heard Cormac apologize but didn't concern himself with that. He sped after the girls and landed beside them, staring down in horror at his knocked-out sort-of sister.

Sophie was brought up to the hospital wing by Lee, Alicia and Dustin and the try-outs continued.

"You can't be seriously considering Cormac, Oliver," George said back at the changing rooms. Fred had already changed and left and Harry was packing his robe back into his locker. He smoothed the wrinkles away with his hand. Harry couldn't wait for the season to begin.

"I am considering who I am considering," Oliver said and Harry caught the annoyed undertone in his voice. He glanced at George who stood in the middle of the oblong room, staring at their Captain unbelievingly.

"Give her another chance," George said.

"She had one, the same as everyone."

"No, she didn't."

Harry put up his foot on the wooden bench and tied his laces.

"George, why are we having this conversation?"

"Because you're a rubbish Captain if you choose anyone else but her. Tracy had poor aim, Dean no agility and Cormac is an ass. And I don't think I need to comment on the two shrimps that still have their baby teeth."

"Cormac made the best figure," Oliver said.

"After he got rid of the only one who posed a threat, that is," George said bitterly.

Harry looked at Oliver who hung up his robe and closed his locker with a sigh. Oliver turned and caught Harry's eye, and he hastily busied himself with his shoe lace again.

"I saw her fly, ask Harry, she's the one you're looking for. She fits with the team, too. If you choose Cormac I can promise you, you'll always have to end training prematurely from now on, because one of your chasers will keep getting a bloody nose."

Threatening probably was not the best way to go about this, Harry thought, so he straightened himself up and decided to put a word in, too.

"She is good, Oliver," he said. "That dive she did when trying out my Firebolt in summer would have made you proud."

Harry sat down on the wooden bench next to his locker.

Oliver looked at him in thought.

"And she has a Firebolt," George said, "can you imagine having two players on Firebolts? How can you not choose her."

"Brooms aren't everything," Oliver reminded them. "Slytherin sports Nimbus 2001's, but not all their players live up to standards individually."

"Look, if you don't choose her, not winning the cup will be your fault."

Oliver gave him a stern look. The cup was a touchy subject with him.

"Why are you advertising her so much?"

"Because she's good!" George almost yelled. He run a hand desperately through his hair.

"Fine, I am going to have another look at her tomorrow before dinner. No team, no fans, just me and her. Harry, you're going up to see her now, aren't you? Tell her that from me, tomorrow 5 o'clock at the pitch. Now go, I want to have a private word."

Harry looked at George who'd looked calmer now that he'd reached his goal. He stood and left, puzzled about what Oliver would say to George, maybe that he shouldn't question his decisions.

When he reached the hospital wing and asked to see Sophie, the school's healer Madam Pomfrey let him in. Sophie looked up and smiled at him, as he approached her bed.

"Hi Harry, how're you doing?"

"Good, and you?"

He sat down on a chair beside her bed.

"Headache, but otherwise fine. Madam Pomfrey fixed my rib and gave me something for the drumming in my head."

"That fall looked nasty," Harry said, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Takes more than a Cormac to knock me out for good," she said with a smile. "I suppose it ruined my chances for the team, though."

"It didn't," Harry said, happy to be the deliverer of good news. "Oliver wants to see you tomorrow at 5 at the pitch for a one on one check."

"Really?" She said raising her eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't expect that. I thought he was a when-you're-out-you're-out kind of person."

"George did have something to do with it," Harry admitted, "but Oliver wants to do what's best for the team and he'd be stupid not to let you try out."

"Thanks for saying that," she said and rubbed her fingers against her temples.

"Yeah, I'll let you rest. See you tomorrow, then."

"See you Harry, thanks for stopping by."

At the door Harry remembered something.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," he said turning around. "Remember that bloke from Diagon Alley who looked at us so weirdly? I think I saw him again."

"At the Quidditch Finale? Yeah, me too."

"What? No. Here, in Hogwarts. I thought I saw him walking through the Quad a few days ago."

Sophie sat up and crunched up her face in pain.

"Ah. Ouch. So, what – here? What would he be doing here?"

"I don't know. I asked Hermione, but he was gone when she turned around. Maybe he's… I don't know. Someone from the Ministry, here for the tournament?"

Sophie looked at the end of her bed in thought. It would explain him being at the final, since there was a lot of ministry presence, but would it explain him ducking into Knockturn Alley?

"I couldn't make sense of it either," Harry said. "Something to ponder while you're confided to bed, I reckon."

She smirked. "Thanks, that's going to help the headache."

Harry smiled, said "happy birthday" – at which she gave him a look - waved her good-bye, and left.

* * *

><p>Friday's Transfiguration lesson dragged on for everyone present, and they were glad when Professor McGonagall had finally ended her monologue on poor homework writing, given them another essay to work on over the weekend, and mercifully released them to the break.<p>

While the others had a free period, Sophie made her way to Arithmancy, a subject taught to sixth and seventh grade combined, as well as to students of all houses together, because otherwise too few would have taken it up.

The day ended with a double lesson of Charms in which she and Lee made Pat's parchment slip to the end of her table every time she looked away and it fell to the floor several times, before Pat caught on to that something was amiss, and they pretended to be deep in conversation when her mistrusting eyes scanned the classroom for the culprit.

Before dinner she set out to the Quidditch pitch alone, by now at least knowing the way from her dorm to the Great Hall and from the Great Hall to the Training Grounds that led to the pitch.

They icy wind of the day before had giving way to weak but warmer beams of the autumn sun. The coloured leaves rustled while she walked down the sloping lawn, in the distance she could see the glittering surface of the lake. Enjoying the quiet and peacefulness of Hogwarts grounds she arrived at the pitch with a smile. Oliver waited for her at the doors. She thought back to how George had jumped them so gracefully the week before, but Oliver had a key.

"Okay, let's see whether you are as good as advertised," he said and let her in.

The Captain only wore his red and gold striped Gryffindor jumper with the sleeves rolled up. His light brown hair was cut short and Sophie couldn't help but inwardly comment on his muscled arms and strong looking hands.

"I'll give you time to warm up by yourself and then I'll let you throw at the rings, while I play Keeper, alright?"

Sophie nodded and he handed her an old-looking school broom.

"Alright, off with you."

She mounted the broom and kicked off. This model, too, had an off steering. The one the day before always slowed down when she didn't pay precise attention and this one always steered a bit more to the left than intended. But she hadn't always flown the world's best model and so adjusting was no problem after the first few rounds.

She sped off, circled the hoops, flew a few screw turns and tried out halting out of high speed. Then Oliver called her over and she was handed the Quaffle. He looked at her with that expectant look but didn't say anything and Sophie took a deep, calming breath before flying in position.

Oliver was a darn good Keeper, as much she remembered from the try-outs the day before. She started up and threw her first toss. Oliver caught it with ease. For the next one she brought a bit more distance between her and the hoops to start with and made a go at the one on the left before pulling up last minute to dump it in the middle. Oliver caught that one, too.

With every throw he caught she grew more ambitious, rather than discouraged. She tried a different approach with ever attempt and she finally scored with her sixth, flying up high and then letting her hang from her broom headfirst at the ankles, throwing the Quaffle in the bottom right hoop instead of the highest in the middle.

She caught Oliver's mouth twitch into a tiny smile and felt encouraged.

One more time she managed to sneak the Quaffle past his watchful eyes and after eight attempts and two scores he ended it.

"I'll throw the Quaffle, you'll count to five and then catch it."

He came to a halt beside her. "Ready?"

The Quaffle seared high up and descended slowly.

_Five_, she thought and sped after it. She caught it one-handed and brought it back to him like a puppy to his owner.

Instead of patting her head and saying good girl, he threw it again. Sophie counted to five in her head and went for it.

For the last one Oliver angled it downwards and Sophie had to go into full dive mood. She managed to catch it before it hit the ground, however, and pulled up with a proud grin. She swallowed it before Oliver came into view and handed him the Quaffle blank faced.

The Captain nodded down to the ground and they set foot on earth again.

"The dive at the end was okay," he said. Sophie breathed in and held her breath. "That scoring needs work, however. You had nice ideas but you did score only two out of eight."

Sophie thought that she maybe was, after all, not good enough to play at Hogwarts.

Oliver took the broom from her and locked it in the shed along with the Quaffle.

"You will have to work on that in training, understood?"

Sophie blinked at him and then she smiled. "In training, so I'm in?"

Oliver smiled, too. "I'm not deciding without asking the team, but seeing how they advertised you beforehand, I'd say you're in, yes." He smiled and turned.

Behind him Sophie jumped and fisted the air, before getting her uncharacteristically happy self under control again, and catching up with him, as they walked back to the castle.

"Mind if we take the rout over the grounds? It's nice weather and probably doesn't take any longer to get to the Great Hall than through."

She nodded and fell into step beside him, clenching and unclenching her fists in her pockets to work some of the excitement out.

"Harry and George were right. I do see the potential in you."

"Thanks," she said, biting her cheek to keep her smile from covering her entire face.

It was odd how she seemed to be hooked on his appreciation, maybe it had something to do with him being older, and handsome, and Captain, and confident. Or it could just be her hormones still on roller coaster ride from the kiss she shared with George two nights before.

Wait, she had sworn not to think about that, bad brain.

She felt her skin grew warm and groaned inwardly. That was one thing she'd like to change about herself – blushing. She didn't blush because of other people, she only ever blushed to betray her own thoughts and she desperately hoped Oliver wouldn't notice. Even if he did, he had no way of knowing what had happened between her and George… right?

"So, do you enjoy Hogwarts?"

"Sorry?"

"I asked if you enjoyed Hogwarts," he said, and if she had blushed and he did notice, he didn't comment.

"Yep," she said. "I mean, how could I not? It's amazing."

"It is," Oliver said and looked around. "And you seem to have made some good friends already, judging by that birthday party."

"Yeah," she said grinning.

Oliver then gave her a strange look, as if he wanted to say something but remember he ought not to. He looked ahead again and smiled.

"Well, it's good to have you on the team. I'll make sure you'll regret the day you decided to join." He smiled a cheek-ish smile and she chuckled.

"I don't doubt that to be honest. Harry told me about training in pouring rain with basically no vision at all."

Oliver smiled as if it made him proud to hear his teammates complain about his training. "Yeah, I like to train in the rain. Get your clothes really soaked through so they cling to your body like a second skin. I love that."

Sophie laughed, "Lee was right, I'm starting to think you are a bit nuts."

Oliver smiled and winked. "Welcome to my team."

They reached the Entrance Hall and heard commotion. To the side of one of the doors in iron frame a girl sat and cried. Groups of students were standing all around the hall, hunched together, talking intently and with a sense of urgency. The doors to the Great Hall were closed. They looked around confused and worried and then Sophie spotted the twins, standing with Lee, Kenny and her dorm girls. As she approached them George turned to her and his face was clouded by worry.

She recognized the troubled look.

"It happened again," was all he said and Sophie felt the happiness melt from her, feeling as if her stomached had been hexed to stone.


	8. Back to Basics

**2/19/2015: I am really sorry for the update delay but life has decided to keep me away from my keyboard. I will try ****my best ****to update Chapter 9 and maybe even 10 before March but unfortunately I really cannot tell whether I am going to make it or not. Either way, this story is NOT ABANDONED. Life just decided to get in the way. My apologies. **

**Special thanks to Nymphie, meowbow and Summer Leight Wind for your reviews! Thank you!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Back to Basics<p>

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked them.

"Till Harper, a third year Slytherin, collapsed at their table," Fred said, looking equally troubled as his twin.

"He was out cold b-but still his arms and legs trembled," Lee said shaken. He glanced up from the floor that he had been staring at so intently, as if he tried to figure out the pattern in which the stones were assembled.

Angie shook her head. "If the teachers hadn't been there…"

"It looks like he was poisoned," Kenny said.

"Harper? Isn't that the blond guy, hanging out with the Slytherin's Chaser Vaisey?" Oliver asked.

Fred nodded. "Vaisey is still in there," he nodded to the closed doors of the Great Hall. "As are the prefects."

"I guess they're trying to figure out what happened," George said.

"Make way!" someone called from the doors and they saw two people in lime green robes hurry through. There was a sign on their back: a bone crossed with a wand.

"Healers," Oliver murmured. "Looks serious."

"It is," Angie said, "First Melissa, now Harper? What is going on this year?" She looked at them, as if demanding an answer.

Fred shook his head. Both Alicia and Pat remained silent. Alicia looked even more mouse-like than usual. Her hair hung like a curtain around her face and her big round eyes stared sadly about. Pat was unusually quiet and pale.

"Well, there is no point in us standing here," Oliver said. "Kenny, let's get the junior prefects together and send everyone back to their dorms."

Oliver's brow was furrowed. With a hand on Kenny's shoulder they went to look for the others. Their little group of seven made its way through the other groups of students to the staircases.

Sophie raised herself to stand on tiptoe and looked for Dustin and Harry. She found both of them at the base of the Marble Staircase.

"Sophie!"

"Dustin, are you okay?"

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a hug, locking eyes with Harry.

"That was scary," her brother said, "everyone screamed and then the teachers all came running down… they sent everyone out and closed the doors."

"He's going to be fine," Hermione said biting her bottom lip. "He was conscious again when they made us leave."

"Yeah but, what's going on?" Harry asked. "What happened to Melissa nobody understood. And now that?"

"Brings back memories from second year, doesn't it?" Ron mumbled. "Chamber of Secrets all over again."

"Maybe a broom closet of mysteries?" Sophie said smiling down at her brother and Dustin rewarded her sorry attempt of a joke with a smile on his side.

"Whatever it is, they better figure it out sooner rather than later," Hermione said. "Before someone else gets hurt."

"And before Harry decides to take matters in his hands," Ron added. "No offence, mate, but maybe we should sit this one out."

Harry gave him a look and Hermione rolled her eyes, while the Blacks siblings grinned.

"Come on! Everyone back to their dorms!"

Sophie put an arm around Dustin's shoulder. "Let's go," she said and they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"Anyone know if Harper was a pure-blood?" Ron asked.

"What does his family have to do with it?" Dustin asked.

"Back in our second year people were attacked because they had muggle parents, or came from half-half families," Harry said.

"And Ron here thinks the same could be happening now," Hermione said.

"What, it could!"

"Please, Ron. Why? There is absolutely no reason for it."

"There's no reason for Malfoy to call you a you-know-what and he does it anyway," Ron said.

"That's different."

"How is that different?"

"Malfoy is a git. Whoever is behind this is most certainly not fourth year."

"A stinky, arrogant, daddy's-boy fourth year you mean."

"Yeah, that."

"The only thing different this year is the tournament," Harry said. "But why would someone attack students?"

Hermione gave him a thoughtful look. "There is a lot of attention on the castle," she said. "It's all over the papers. For someone seeking attention this would be the perfect opportunity. Dumbledore managed to keep Melissa away from the news, but will he manage again? When will all this come out? When will it end?"

They walked the corridors of Gryffindor Tower's fifth floor and Sophie got distracted when her eyes fell onto the painting of a sunrise behind an old version of Hogwarts castle. She'd seen it before.

The sunrise was the same colour as his hair.

They walked past it but Sophie was stuck inside her head, oblivious to the conspiracy theories around her. He had been so quiet on their way past these corridors. But what had been there to say? She hadn't known how to explain, Merlin, she wasn't able yet! It just had happened, and then…

A ghostly smile smoothed her features as she thought back to sitting with him on the outer walls, moonlight illuminating his features. His eyes, his nose, his freckles.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Hu?"

Her four friends regarded her with suspicious looks.

"Oh I was just –"

They went around a corner and she was saved by the eldest Weasley brother attending Hogwarts. There he stood, snogging a girl with a shiny prefect badge.

Hermione bit down her grin but Ron, ever so subtle, called, "Oi! Wait till I tell mom what you're up to!"

Sophie, going from being caught to being the one catching, smirked at Ron's remark and Percy's obvious discomfort.

"Mother very well knows of my relationship with Penelope," Percy said, taking a step back, fiddling with his tie in the attempt to adjust it, and his ears turned to an almost concerning deep red colour.

"Aren't you supposed to find out what happened to that Slytherin bloke?"

"The professors are looking into it," Percy said, making his voice sound important. "We were told to send everyone back to their dormitories, and since that had already happened…"

"You thought you get in a quick snog, because who knows who's next?"

"Ronald - that is most certainly not the case." Percy said, colour spreading from his ears to his cheeks.

Sophie's eyes met Penny's. She just stood there, watching the brothers bicker. The brunette prefect smiled upon noticing her, and with a look back to her boyfriend, decided that he was able to handle his youngest brother on his own.

"Penelope Clearwater – Penny for short," she said walking over, and extended her hand. Sophie shook it, as well as Dustin. "Ravenclaw, though if you ever run into any trouble don't hesitate to come to me when Percy is otherwise occupied." She nodded back to where he stood with Ron, both red and engaged in brotherly quarrel.

"Thank you," Sophie said.

"Do they have any idea who it was?" Hermione asked.

Penny's look changed. "No, they don't." She sighed. "It was easy writing Melissa's passing off as teen-age caused, but this is not going to be easy to talk away. Till is going to be fine, though. The healer said the early intervention of the teachers kept the poison from spreading."

"How was he poisoned?" Harry asked.

"It's said to have been in his pumpkin juice."

"Penny?" Percy looked at her, calmer and more naturally coloured.

"Are you done?" She asked, but with a smile.

"Yes, I am sorry about that." He shot Ron a look.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Penny said and then she took Percy's hand and they disappeared through a passageway hidden behind a curtain next to where they had stood and kissed.

Hermione punched Ron's shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"I know you're chronically allergic to tact, Ron, but I won't take it as an excuse not to remind you that it exists!"

Dustin chuckled and Harry just shook his head with a smile. Apparently he was used to that kind of quarrel all too well.

The moment of relief, however, rapidly subsided when they entered their common room. The atmosphere was so thick not even a flobberworm would have been able to worm its way through.

"It's going to end," Angie said to Alicia. Sophie found them sitting on Alicia's bed in their dorm. Pat was nowhere to be seen. Sophie remained at the door, and looked at her two friends. Clearly, the news of a poisoning in their school had hit some harder than others. Downstairs Percy lend comforting words to some of those, scared first years and confused students that knew Hogwarts to be a place of peace and security.

"Dumbledore is going to catch the one responsible and everything will be back to normal."

Angie had her arm wrapped around Alicia's shoulders in a supporting fashion but that was all the meaning Sophie could put to her words, too. They were a comfort, they were a hope, but they were not the truth.

* * *

><p>On the night from Wednesday to Thursday a storm came over the school, soaked its grounds and made its old windows rattle. So Thursday morning dawned dark as the evening and they made their way to the first lesson, Herbology, with heads hidden under umbrellas, and shoes sliding over sloppy grass.<p>

"Fitting, isn't it?" George said, holding an umbrella over the two. "As if the weather wanted to increase the gloomy mood."

"I'm surprised Oliver didn't move our training up to today's afternoon. It looks just like the weather he'd like to fly in."

"Keep your voice down, you never know who might be listening in," George said, conspiratorially looking around for their captain.

Sophie chuckled. "Well, it would at least make the day less gloomy."

George snorted. "Yeah right. It would make it just plain terrible."

"What? Are you made out of sugar, Weasley?" she teased and stepped out from under the umbrella.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" he asked, while Sophie's hair got soaked by the diving rain.

"What happened to _I'm so fun_?" She mocked him, imitating his voice.

"You make me sound like a troll," George said with a laugh.

He had stopped and stood under his umbrella opposite her watching the rain drench her clothes. Their classmates did pay no attention to them. Their vision was reduced by umbrellas and their eyes were focused on the slippery grounds.

"You're going to get a cold," he said.

"Cute, you sound just like your mom," she said, standing in the diving rain, grinning at him.

George shook his head and finally let the umbrella snap close. "Fine, and now?"

"Oh Weasley, your just no fun at all," Sophie said with a laugh, raised her hands as if praying to the gods above, titled her head back, and closed her eyes.

George watched her enjoy the rain with a smile playing on his lips.

"You're insane."

Sophie blinked an eye open. "I met someone who's a bad influence on me."

George chuckled and she grinned, eyes closed again. Her hair hung wet around her face and her clothes stuck to her body. Still, even with smeared mascara, for all he was concerned, she was the prettiest girl in the castle.

It was little moments like these, in which Sophie enjoyed the peacefulness of nature, calming her, and washing away all the troubles of life.

"Alright."

His voice made her startle. He had stepped closer without her noticing, the rush of rain swallowing the sound of his footsteps. She gulped.

"What now?"

They looked into each other's eyes.

"Now," she said, "I thought we'd do something fun."

George had to summon all his strength to not just lean in and kiss her again, for real this time, crushing his lips onto hers. With more force than should have been necessary he reached for her hand and then he pulled her with him, and they sat out for a run over the slippery grounds towards the green houses.

They arrived to Herbology class a minute late and soaked from head to toe. Chubby Professor Sprout with her green pointed hat took one look at them and held her hands up. "Stop right there, dears, before you flood my green house," she said. "Everyone, as I said, get your materials for leave study out." She came over to where the two stood at the entrance while their classmates began their tasks. Sophie noticed the shoulders of Fred, whose back was turned to her, shake with laughter.

"Mr. Weasley if you would please take off your cloak?"

"Er, what?"

"I will put a drying spell on you two, but that Chilli plant over there could use some watering."

George shed his cloak and Professor Sprout tipped their heads with her wand once, sending a warm feeling running down their backs and into their fingertips. Their clothes were dried instantly.

"Wring it out, will you? Then let your classmates fill you in on your assignment."

George parted and Sophie went over to where Angie waited for her.

"Had a nice walk in the rain?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Don't get started, please," Sophie said.

"Just shagg' 'm."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Your advice on everything."

"Sex is known to cure a lot."

Alicia shuddered.

"You're such a softy," Pat said, then leaned back to look around her and Angie's backs and said once again, "Just shagg' 'm."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sophie replied and then turned to Angie. "So what are we supposed to do with those?"

But before Angie could answer commotion made them turn around. George clasped his throat, eyes wide open. For a moment she feared he had been poisoned and tried to remember everything that she could do to help, but then Sophie started join into the class' laughter.

"Mr. Weasley!" Professor Sprout's voice sounded over them. "I told you to water the plant, not to try its fruits!

George's eyes began to water. "That's the devil's chilli," he croaked and Sophie had to wipe a tear away from her own eyes, biting down on her lip hard, to try and control her amusement.

Unheard to her ears, Lee turned to Kenny at a work bench on the other side of the tree house. "Five Sickles that he did that just to impress her."

"Ten Sickles," Kenny said. "It's so obvious."

"That's not how bets work, you know?"

Fred leaned over to them. "I'll take it, and I'll win. A, he's given up on impressing her. He wants to try out that friends-thing now," – he rolled his eyes – "and B, yes, my twin really is that stupid to try a chilli fruit that just screams I'll burn your organs."

"Whose organs?" George said, after Professor Sprout had handed him a milky fluid to drink.

"You're an idiot," Fred said.

"And you're a softy," George replied, "5 Sickles you wouldn't dare bite into one."

By the end of class, both Fred and Lee were in need of the savouring effects of the professor's milky fluid. Kenny just shook his head over them.

* * *

><p>After lunch they had the day to themselves. Sophie didn't know where Fred, George and Lee had snuck off to, but she was almost certain she was better off not knowing. She made use of the rare occasion that one was ever by oneself in the castle and went to the library. Moody had mentioned a book in his last lesson, she had wanted to check out. Maybe she could impress the ex-auror with a counter spell in their next floor-mopping sessions, how Lee started to call them.<p>

"Not up to mischief," she said to Mrs. Norris, the flea-bitten cat of the caretaker Filch. "Though I don't know why you would look here for them, the three twins are known to steer clear of the library."

Mrs. Norris, the cat, just stared at her with her disapproving eyes and Sophie shrugged. "Justin sayin'."

The library was a place of solace and peace. Sophie fleetingly wondered why not more students had sought refugee here, in times like these. She sat down at a table at the end of the defence department. Only two other tables were occupied in her proximity, one by Slytherins, by the looks of their green ties, and one by a Ravenclaw girl.

She opened the book she had found surprisingly quickly and began to skim through the content listing. Unfortunately the whole book was titled _Counter Spells_, so in the end she decided to just start with chapter one.

She heard a book hit the floor three rows from her, when she scanned the first paragraph. This was going to be a long read. The sentence stretched over half the page.

A Slytherin snickered nearby.

She yawned and flicked the page, searching for the ending punctuation of the third sentence. The sky outside was still dark and the library lit by oil lamps. It probably wouldn't get to be a decent day before night fell. _Gloomy_, she thought, flicking another page.

She heard another book hit the carpet floor and looked up to see a small boy, first year if she had to guess, with sandy hair pick it up at the end of the row. He glanced up the shelf.

Sophie stifled another yawn and looked back at her book. Maybe Hermione had read it, she could at least ask. That book screamed boredom from every line and she wondered what the three twins were doing that moment. Most certainly not thinking about impressing a teacher. At least with nothing education-related.

Her head shot up again when the little boy with sandy hair had managed to shower himself with books. The two Slytherins jeered at him and Sophie shot them a look, though it went unnoticed.

A chair behind her moved and she watched the Ravenclaw girl go over to where the little boy stood.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

The boy stared at the floor, frozen.

"Look, it's no problem, we'll just put them back, okay?" she said, picking a book up from the floor.

"What's your name?"

The boy didn't answer.

"What book are you looking for?"

She titled her head. "Hey, you. Hello? I can help you if you want."

The boy remained silent.

"Fine," she said discouraged and let the book fall back to the floor. She turned and walked back to sit at her desk.

Sophie noticed the boys hands tremble. She stood.

"Shut up," she snapped when passing the Slytherin table.

She crouched down before him and began to collect all the fallen books in her arms, before standing up and sorting them according to their numeration where they belonged.

Then she looked down at the boy, who still held his gaze fixed onto the floor and didn't move as if he was hexed to stone. His hands, however, shook.

She noticed a parchment in one of them. Carefully she extracted the piece of parchment and looked at it.

_Weatherly, Michael – The Beginners Guide to Transfigurations, J.F Beron – Professor McGonagall_

Sophie looked for the book on the shelf and found it on an upper row, clearly out of reach for the boy. She stuck the parchment like a book marker in it and placed the book in the boy's hands.

Only then he moved his head and looked at her for the first time. Sophie smiled and let him be. Back at her table she fetched her book without granting it a second look and put it back in its place, before she left the library, looking for one of her friends.

* * *

><p>"It makes no sense discussing how we can enter. We have no idea who that impartial judge is."<p>

Lee nodded. "Wait and see, it is then."

"Have you noticed," George said, "that Filch is actually doing his job now?"

"I guess Dumbledore wants to brag with a nice and tidy castle when our guests from the other schools arrive," Fred said.

Lee smirked. "Friends, I think I just got an idea."

"Yeah," George said grinning mischievously, "We should really help our dear caretaker clean up, don't you think?"

"Oh, I can see our afternoon slowly turning into something interesting," Fred said grinning.

The three stood up from where they had been sitting on the floor in a hidden passageway between floor one and two of the Ravenclaw Tower.

"What do you reckon needs cleaning the most?" Lee asked.

Fred and George looked at each other. "The trophy room!"

* * *

><p>"Dobby?"<p>

The sorry looking little creature looked up.

"Miss Sophie," Dobby said and managed a small smile.

"Dobby, what are you doing here?"

It was most unusual for house elves to show up in corridors in the middle of the day.

"Oh Dobby was just walking about, Miss …" he trailed off.

Sophie took in his slumped shoulders, hanging ears, and sad look.

"Are you alright?" She asked, kneeling down so the difference in height didn't make conversation harder.

Dobby sighed. "Dobby is troubled, Miss, because …"

"Because what?"

"Because today two men came to the kitchens with Professor Dumbledore, Miss, asking questions."

Realization dawned on her. "Because of what happened to Till Harper?"

Dobby nodded.

"They don't blame it on you, do they? Dobby?"

"No, no, Miss. Dumbledore told Dobby and the other house elves that Mr. Shacklebolt and Mr. Valens were just investigating and that he didn't believe any of us had something to do with it." Dobby looked up at her and his big tennis-ball round eyes featured something like a twinkle. "Professor Dumbledore is the most respectable and friendliest person Dobby has ever met," he said, "along with Mr. Potter, of course, who freed Dobby from his former master."

"Then you shouldn't worry, Dobby," Sophie said. "I'm sure everything will be alright." She patted his bony little shoulder.

"Thank you Miss!" Dobby said and lunched forward, hugging her.

"Uhm… no problem, Dobby."

"Dobby should return to the kitchens, now, Miss."

"Yeah, have a nice work day, Dobby." Sophie stood and before the elf disapparated, she added, "and Dobby, if you run into any trouble, come find me."

Dobby smiled, bowed, and was gone.

* * *

><p>"You are the worst!" Lee said panting. "Get me out of here!"<p>

"We're trying mate," Fred said, pulling at the suit of armour's arm that held Lee trapped against its chest protector.

"Argh, it's squishing me," Lee whined.

"Don't exaggerate," said George, sweat pearls forming on his brow as he and his brother tried to heave off the soldiers arm.

"I'm not," Lee pressed through his teeth. "Stupid bastard, let me down!" He kicked the armour against the knee but to no avail. "If I ever get out, I'm going to kill the two of you."

"It's not our fault," Fred said stepping away from the armour. "How were we supposed to know it would do that when we attempted to vanish everything in that classroom."

"It never did that before," George agreed, stepping away, too.

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking," Fred said, "Clearly force doesn't work."

"Maybe if we ask it nicely?" George suggested.

"Please, oh shiniest suit of armour of all, will you let our friend down? He's really sorry."

The armour didn't move.

"Maybe it has to come from him? Lee, you try it." George said.

"Are you MENTAL?!" Lee screamed. "Fuck you, stupid thing, lemme down!"

He kicked and squirmed, but the armours grip on him wouldn't loosen.

Fred sighed. "Well, it's common knowledge they listen to McGonagall, maybe we need to involve her in this."

Lee whined. "No, I just finished detention with her about that Herbology prank I pulled."

"Or you could just remain here in the arms of your new friend," George said.

"I hate you," Lee mumbled bitterly and cast them a dark look.

"Well, don't get too cosy while we get her," Fred said.

"Yeah, not that we find you in a compromising situation when we get back," George said with a smirk.

"Ah ha-ha. Hurry, I don't need my ribs to bruise any further."

The twins waved him goodbye and left their third partner in crime hanging a few inches above the ground, hugged by a suit of armour, looking after them disgruntledly.

* * *

><p>"Afternoon, Soffi."<p>

A shadow fell over her and Sophie turned. "Hi, Hagrid."

The half-giant Care of Magical Creatures teacher had a pumpkin under his arm, big as a buggy.

"What are you doing with this?"

"I'm takin' it to get tested," Hagrid said, "ya know, make sure it's nothin' in the soil."

"Because of the poisoning?"

Hagrid grumbled. "Mm. Terrible thin'," he said shaking his big head. "Dumbledore is concerned o' course. Who wouldn' be. It's odd, that's what it is."

Sophie looked after him thudding away.

Odd. Yes, it was odd. To her, everything about this place was odd, but when even Hagrid called things odd, Hagrid, who had lived there who knows how long, than things must really be odd, even for Hogwarts standards.

Sophie tucked out the Marauder's Map. She smirked when the black lines formed and she found the twins' spots accompanied by Professor McGonagall. A little further down the corridor Lee's name appeared. Feeling in the mood for some action, she scanned her way to them and set off.

* * *

><p>"Your duty to the school has been fulfilled," Professor McGonagall said and the armour dropped Lee in an instant.<p>

"Aah," Lee moaned, touching his ribs.

"Mr. Jordan."

He gulped and looked up to the less than happy looking Head of Gryffindor.

Behind her Fred and George looked as if they already had received their scolding.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Why is it the school guards felt the need to intervene with your actions?"

"Uhm," Lee glanced back at the armour. "I dunno?"

The professor's lips turned to such a straight line they were almost not visible and Lee felt himself shrinking under her unforgiving look.

"Mr. Jordan, you are off to a bad start this term."

Lee hung his head.

"What am I supposed to do with you? Detention seems to have lost all its effect, you attend it like an extracurricular activity!"

Fred was glad the professor's back was turned to him, because he could not supress his smirk. Technically, it _was _an extracurricular activity.

"Do I need to take away your liberties? Maybe I should look for someone else to comment on the Quidditch season?"

"NO!" Fred, George and Lee shouted at her at once.

Professor McGonagall turned back to the twins, her look clearly stating: I will not be shouted at.

"Please, Professor," George pleaded. "We promise to return everything to the classrooms."

"Really, we just wanted to help nice-up the castle," Fred said.

Lee nodded vehemently, the prospect of losing his job as commentator having taken away his voice.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "You will report for detention every evening of the remainder of this and the following week at seven o'clock in my office. You will return everything to its usual state." The boys nodded. "And am I right assuming the flooding in the trophy room can be ascribed to your accounts as well?" Three blank faces stared at her. "You will put that in order, too. Now, out of my sight."

She watched Fred, George, and Lee walk down the corridor like a pirate's plank.

"Let me guess, that didn't turn out as you'd hoped?"

When they had rounded the corner, they walked into Sophie. She stood there, Map in one hand, and a smirk on her face.

"No," Lee said still grumbly.

"Sorry, though you hanging there did look funny."

He cast her a dark look.

"You might want to consider planning those better, what am I supposed to do when you lot always land yourselves in detention?"

"Study," came Professor McGonagall's reply as she walked past the four.

Sophie bit her lip smirking and waited until the professor was out of sight. "No, but seriously. Stop getting detention."

Fred put an arm around her shoulder, "well, you could just lend a hand in our pranks, you know."

George grinned. "He's right, it's a win-win situation."

Sophie looked at them brows furrowed.

"Either you help us get away," Lee explained, "or you land in detention along with us, which also would rid you of lonely evenings."

"Ha," she said. "Right."

"Well, let's get out of here," Fred said. "Nothing good outside," he said with a glance out the window to the dark sky, "and I don't fancy running into Gonny again."

"Ever heard the names Shaklegold and Valens?" Sophie asked them when they were walking back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Shaklebolt, maybe?" George asked, "then yes, he's Head of the Auror Department since Moody left. Why?"

"Dobby said they're looking into the poisoning."

"Aurors?" Lee asked.

"They must think something bigger is going on, then," Fred said.

"I think everyone knows by now that something bigger is going on," George said.

Sophie looked at him from the side.

"We don't usually poison people around here," he said.

"I wasn't suggesting you were."

"I know."

They fell silent and reached the portrait. While the boys sat down in armchairs, Sophie went over to where her brother sat by his own.

"Hey, watcha doing?"

"Transfiguration homework," he said.

"Mind if I join in?"

Dustin shook his head and Sophie sat down across from him. They had worked in silence for a while when movement at the portrait caught her eyes and she saw the sandy haired boy from the library silently slip in. He looked around shyly and a bit lost and then he caught her eye.

Sophie smiled and with her foot pushed the chair next to Dustin back a bit. Then she tipped Dustin's essay with the back of her quill.

"Transfiguration is misspelled here."

Dustin went back and scratched the word out before scribbling the correct spelling above.

The chair next to him moved and the boy from the library sat down, pulling out his books almost soundlessly.

He didn't look at them and Sophie didn't pay him attention in return, instead she went back to work on her own essay.

She couldn't help herself, thought, but glance up every one in a while to check over Dustin's work.

"There's the verb missing in that sentence."

Dustin went back and corrected it.

She looked over to what his neighbour was working on and saw that it was the same assignment.

"It's to transfigure or transform here, not transfigurate," she told him softly, pointing to the sentence he'd just written.

The boy corrected his mistake.

"Don't worry about it," Dustin told him, "my sister just can't help herself. I'm Dustin by the way."

For a moment it looked like the sandy haired boy would not react at all, just like he had done back in the library, when he kept on staring down on his parchment. But then he tipped his quill into ink and scribbled something onto the top left corner of his parchment: _Mike_.

Sophie followed his lead and wrote her name down on the top of her parchment, upside down so Mike was able to read it. Dustin, too, wrote his name down underneath his date.

Then Mike looked up quickly and the smallest of smiles passed over his lips before he looked back down onto his parchment and resumed working.

Sophie winked at Dustin and smiled. Then she pointed to his heading. "You have a ruler for that."

Dustin groaned.

* * *

><p>Hogwarts never slept. Ghosts were gliding along, through corridors and walls. Peeves, the poltergeist, was up to mischief when he thought the castle had gone too long without a stir-up. Filch was hunting down trouble makers, tracking Peeves, and conversing with his cat, Mrs. Norris, about oh just what he would do to those, if not for the headmaster's disagreement.<p>

Teachers and prefects were patrolling the corridors for curfew-breakers and broom closet-misusers. House elves were bustling in the shadows, cooking, washing, cleaning, tending to fireplaces. Aurors were somewhere in the castle, investigating strange happenings, and ministry people came by every once and again, walking straight up to the headmaster's office to discuss the great event coming up for the school.

While all that and probably more was going on outside their dorms, it was quiet where the twins, Lee, and Kenny sat on their beds. Kenny was engaged in a reading-assignment and the flick of pages was the only sound coming from him. Lee filled the quiet with soft snores, leaned against his headboard in a weird angle, feet still in his shoes. Fred sat on his bed puzzling over their latest invention and George lay on his back, arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

He sighed.

"Something bugging you?" Fred asked him in a quiet voice. Kenny flicked a page and Lee snored on.

George turned his head. "Just thinking about what she meant when she said _it shouldn't have happened_."

Fred looked up. "Ask her."

"I'm not sure I want to start the topic again."

Fred chewed on his cheek, thinking. "Then you won't know."

"I know." George sighed and went back to staring at the ceiling.

Fred tipped the golf-ball sized object with his wand. It stuttered, then fell dead again. Lee snored on, Kenny flicked a page.

That moment with her on the grounds before Herbology class that morning refused to leave his mind and it brought back memories of their lip-brushing two days ago.

"_Friends right_. Who says that?"

"Apparently someone who's deeply impressed by your snogging skills," Fred said. "I'm kidding," he added when George sent him a look of death.

"It's not funny," he said.

"Sorry. This isn't working." Fred pulled open his night drawer and cramped his newest project into it to the other items. Then he kicked it shut with his foot and looked at his troubled twin.

"What can I do?"

George shook his head. "Just ignore me." Then he stood up and went to the bathroom, getting ready for bed.

"He has it bad," Kenny said quietly when the door shut close.

Fred just murmured in agreement, looking after his twin. Maybe GGAST had been not such a great idea after all. Maybe he'd pushed him a little too much.

"Girls, hu?" Kenny said.

"As if you'd know," Fred said with a small smile.

"True. But it's not that different, really."

Fred sighed. "No, I suppose not."

Woken from the slamming door, Lee blinked at them tiredly. "No one can claim that GGAST hasn't been successful, though" he said and yawned, "we did" – yawn – "get him his first snog within only a few days of existence."

"Lip-brushing," Kenny corrected.

Fred and Lee snorted.

"He's just an idiot," Fred said.

Lee nodded. "If he wasn't my friend, I'd mock him till doomsday with that."

All three of them smirked. Fred pulled his shirt over his head and started to get ready for bed himself.

"Lip-brushing, seriously," Lee mumbled, too tired to move. When George reappeared, he was still smirking.

"What got you so happy?"

The third twin exchanged a glance with Fred, who, behind his brother's back, smacked his lips.

"Nuthin'," Lee chocked out.

* * *

><p>Wind had taken over from rain the following day. Howling it found all the niches and holes of the castle and left the students shiver, pulling their robes tighter around them.<p>

George's mood hadn't improved over night, in fact it had gotten worse. He sat brooding at breakfast, stabbing at his crumbled egg as if it had offended him deeply. In Transfiguration McGonagall's reminder of their detention that evening didn't help either.

"It wasn't that bad, though, was it?" Sophie said, when they left the classroom. "I'm actually looking forward to start human transfiguration."

"I heard we are supposed to change the colour of our eyebrows," Angie said.

"With my luck I'll get stuck with having bright green eyebrows with purple dots for the rest of my life," Alicia said and Sophie chuckled.

"I don't think that would happen to me, rather yellow with pink stripes."

A few feet behind them George observed her laughing with her dorm mates and sighed.

While Sophie dove into numeric charts in Arithmancy, he spent his free period day-dreaming.

In charms she sat with Lee again and the two went back to their favourite occupation whenever Professor Flitwick did short passages of theory: annoying Pat. When Pat's parchment hit the floor for the fourth time the blonde stood up, startling everyone, including little Professor Flitwick who stood on a pile of books on his desk explaining the importance of something they had paid no attention to.

"Alright, who makes my parchment drop all the time? Speak up now so I can slice you!"

Sophie and Lee leaned back in their seats trying to control their laughter while everyone else looked at her dorm mate as if she'd gone mad. Lee had to stick his whole fist into his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"That was hilarious", he told her after class, the two of them watching Pat interrogate a Ravenclaw, she had claimed looked suspiciously guilty.

"Still is," Sophie said smirking.

They forced their faces to go blank when Pat approached them.

"Not the culprit?"

"No," Pat said with a sigh. "He just has a crush on me."

"Oh."

"Well, I'll be going then, I promised to help with his potion homework."

"Sure," Lee said.

"See you then."

When she turned her back the two started smirking again.

"Go," Fred told his brother and pushed him towards where Sophie stood with Lee.

"Alright, keep cool," George said and approached them.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"See ya at dinner, So," Lee said and vanished in Fred's direction.

"Bye."

Sophie raised an eyebrow at George who felt his resolution to talk about their lip-brushing crumble.

"Uhm, well..." He said.

Sophie looked at him expectantly.

"How about…," he said, knowing he sounded weird. "We, uhm, check out dinner?"

Sophie's mouth curved into a smile. "Check. Out. Dinner?" She repeated.

George let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah."

"Uhm, are you feeling alright?" She said laughing.

"Yeah, sure," he said and nodded, inwardly kicking himself for his awkwardness. "Just a Wrackspurt I guess."

"A what?"

"I have no idea. Harry always says that when he's behaving oddly."

"Ah," she said. "Well, let's _check out_ dinner then."

She grinned and George groaned. "Yeah. I blame it all on the Wrackspurt." Sophie chuckled.

While descending the stairs George was quiet. He fought an inner battle of what ifs and cannots. They had almost reached the Entrance Hall when he slammed a door open to his right. Sophie turned and looked at him alarmed.

George smiled. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. Can we talk for a second?"

She looked at him perplexed, then she furrowed her brows and went into the empty classroom. George closed the door behind them and breathed out slowly, before turning to face her.

She leaned against the teachers desk, so casually, yet so perfect. Her robe had slipped a little off her left shoulder. Sunbeams fell through the window behind her and made her hair shimmer.

She didn't ask what it was about. She just looked at him and waited.

"Uhm, okay. You were right, I'm not myself today."

Instantly her look changed to concern. "Everything alright?"

He thought it was the cutest thing and smiled. "Yeah, fine."

She mirrored his smile and nodded.

"Listen." If he screwed this up, he could ruin everything between them. "I just need to know if…" He looked into her ocean blue eyes. "if…"

"Wrackspurts?" She said tilting her head slightly to the side with a grin.

George chuckled. "Seem to be everywhere today."

She smiled.

Merlin, he hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor for no reason.

"I just wanted to know," he said carefully pronouncing every word, "what exactly you meant by 'this shouldn't have happened' that night of your birthday." His eyes flicked away from the board to her.

She sighed. "George, when I told you on the train that I didn't want a boyfriend I meant it. And that kiss –"

"Lip-brushing," he corrected automatically.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head and felt his neck burn.

"Uhm alright," she said, breathing in, "however, one doesn't do _that_ with people one's decidedly friends with."

She had blushed as had he. He shifted uncomfortably from one leg to another. "Nah, nah, one doesn't."

"Okay."

"This is so awkward," he said and she chuckled.

"Yeah it is. But I'm glad you brought it up."

"Are you, really?" He said, his voice a pitch higher than usual and he coughed.

She grinned, biting her lip, cheeks flushing. "Yeah. Look, this is all new for me. Having family, having friends and having a place to belong. I just feel like, uhm, I could or I wouldn't be good at, er, more?"

George nodded. "Alright. I understand."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. I mean, I get your point. Thanks for explaining."

She chuckled again. "Uhm okay. However, you're not just my friend, you know that right?"

"I'm your best friend, right?"

"Yeah, my bestest."

George grinned proudly at her and Sophie tried to get her smile under control.

"Okay, all solved?"

"All solved."

"I feel like I should hug you," she said laughing.

George extended his arms grinning.

"Thanks, George," she said when she had wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her close.

He felt her breath on his neck and breathed in the scent of her hair.

"No problem, bestie."

She pulled away and looked at him.

"Do not call me that."

"What? You are," he said grinning mischievously and the twinkle in his eyes was back.

Sophie snorted. "I will hit you if you do."

"You'd never do that, best- ouch."

He looked at her with what he wanted to be a grim expression, but his happy grin gave him away. She chuckled and shook her head at him. Massaging his shoulder he followed her out of the room.

He hadn't been sorted into the house of the brave for no reason. And if she wanted him to be her best friend, he could do that. The school year had, after all, only just begun.

* * *

><p><strong>Liked it? Let me know in the reviews!<strong>


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